Good taste is all in the DNA

Good taste is all in the DNA

Susan Allen
Susan Allen
DNA Informed breeding

I’m Susan Allen with The Fruit Grower report, Like a show dog, tree fruit is bred for specific traits, Cameron Peace a tree geneticist at WSU shares how what He calls it DNA informed Breeding saves breeders time and money.

Peace: The genetic test we develop predictive of fruit quality and productivity. I’ll use sweetness as an example. We have a genetic test that can tell if a plant is likely to bear fruit that are exceptionally sweet , really tasty and really enjoyable to eat or whether they are prone to just be bland. So there are two main ways breeder can use this test. One on their parent material to determine which of their potential parents carry the genetic factors for the improved sweetness so that they can then make crosses that will lead to seedlings in the next generation that carry those desirable characteristic, of sweetness in this case. So there are lots of genetic tests we have developed and are using in these programs, there’s tests for sweetness, tartness , fruit size, crispness, firmness, fruit color. This particular use of this DNA information has allowed these breeding programs to save around about 50,000dollars per year each on results that otherwise that would have been wasted on inferior seedlings. That’s DNA Informed breeding. I’m Susan Allen with the Ag Information Network of the West.

 

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