Abstract

Nowadays, despite of being a typically temperate fruit crop, peach is found in subtropical and even tropical altitude zones, due to breeding efforts. Genetic knowledge and phenotypic and environmental parameters directly or indirectly influence the characters of economic importance in peach, and they are of great importance for breeding programs orientation. The aim of this study was to estimate heritability of a color shade character of peach flesh, measured by the Hue angle, chroma and lightness to evaluate its distribution in the populations, testing the possible existence of maternal effect. Results showed that parameters related to color shade of peach flesh have a medium heritability. Parents selection based on phenotype allows a medium genetic improvement for the mentioned character. This heritability is predominantly additive, without maternal effect. The Hue angle is the correct parameter to be used to classify and study yellow-flesh peaches and nectarines in relation to their color shade. However, the multivariate analysis of principal components, using the three parameters Hue angle, chroma and lightness, is an alternative of high accuracy.

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