Inheritance of flowering, maturity, fruit yield, and winter hardiness of sea buckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides)

Abstract

Eight characters relating to flowering and maturity, berry yield, and winter hardiness were estimated on the basis of intersubspecific or interprovenance hybrids to determine heterosis, heritability, and genetic and phenotypic correlations in sea buckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides L.). Two provenances of ssp. rhamnoides, one of Finnish (Fin) and one of Danish (Dan) origin, were dominant to ssp. sinensis and Russian derived provenances (ssp. turkestanica) for most characters related to flowering or maturity. This tendency for dominance or overdominance also extended to berry yield and winter hardiness, except for hybrids between Finnish origins and Siberian (ssp. mongolica) origins. The start of maturity (Ms) and half maturity (Mh) showed the highest heritabilities (h2 = 0.88 and 0.81, respectively). The hybrids were matroclinal, suggesting that Ms and Mh may be sex-linked or cytoplasmically inherited characters. Winter hardiness was the trait with the lowest heritability (h2 = 0.02), suggesting that the climate at the testing site was not severe enough to differentiate variation among half sibs or full sibs derived from Fin x Dan, which on average proved hardier than the native parental provenance Fin. Full maturity (Mf) showed a moderate heritability but was stable across 2 years (rB = 1). High genetic correlations among Mf, Ms, and Mh (rG = 0.94, 0.96, and 1.00, respectively) suggest that these characters were controlled by the same genes. Yield showed a negative genetic correlation with all characters pertaining to flowering and maturity, indicating that selection for early flowering or early maturity should result in a gain in yield.