Genetic diversity and fruit characteristics of new superior hybrid strawberry (Fragaria × ananassa Duchesne ex Rozier) genotypes

The development of strawberry (Fragaria × ananassa Duchesne ex Rozier) genotypes, which have good taste, size and firmness, is among the most important and prioritized issues of today. We aimed to develop new strawberry cultivars having standards of priority issues for strawberry. Eight prominent strawberry genotypes were obtained from the cross of domestic strawberry cultivars (‘Sevgi’, ‘Kaşka’, and ‘Ebru’) with the varieties (‘Rubygem’, ‘Festival’, and ‘Amiga’). Pomological (total soluble solids, titratable acidity, pH, and firmness) and physical (fruit width, fruit length, and fruit weight) analyses of eight strawberry genotypes and their parents were performed on active harvest months. In addition, ISSR (Inter Simple Sequence Repeat) markers were used to analyze the genetic diversity of eight prominent strawberry hybrids and their parents. The selected superior hybrid strawberry fruit characteristics exceeded the characteristics of local varieties and reached the point where they can compete with commercial varieties in terms of most of the quality parameters. However, it was determined that the genotypes did not reach the targeted point in terms of fruit firmness. While a good positive correlation among fruit size parameters was found, taste of fruit was negatively affected by increasing these. As it is seen in the molecular results (PCoA), domestic and foreign cultivars were separated from each other, and their progenies were generally between them as most of the examined parameters (fruit firmness, acidity, total soluble solid, fruit weight). In addition, PIC value ranged from 0.17 (UBC816) to 0.86 (UBC824).