Inheritance of Fruit Weight, Size and Organic Acid Content in a Distant Hybrid Population of Longan ‘Huanongzao’ and Lychee ‘Ziniangxi’

Abstract

The type and content of organic acids in fruits are important factors that determine the traits, such as the nutrition and flavor of fruits. Fruit weight and size are also very important economic characters in fruit breeding research. To investigate the inheritance patterns in longan, fruit organic acid contents, weight, and size were measured in the distant hybridization progenies of longan ‘Huanongzao’ and lychee ‘Ziniangxi’. The results revealed that the malic acid accumulation exhibited mid-parent heterosis, citric acid content showed a tendency towards depression, and oxalic acid, ketoglutaric acid, fumaric acid, gallic acid, and total acid contents exhibited transgressive inheritance. The inheritance patterns in fruit weight, length and diameter tended towards smaller and degraded. The coefficient of variation (CV) for the organic acids ranged from 35.77–90.20%, and the heritability (H2) was 72.35–97.44%. High CV (55.44%) coupled with medium H2 (28.72%) were observed in fruit weight, however, low CV (12.29% and 12.50%) coupled with high H2 (68.95% and 69.25%) were shown in fruit length and diameter. In this study, the genetic variation of acid contents, fruit weight and size in the F1 population of longan and lychee were analyzed for the first time, providing an informative and theoretical basis for the selection and breeding of longan cultivars.