Inter-fertility among female parent clones of pineapple involved in a 6x6 complete diallel crossing system based on typological approach.

Abstract

Pineapple (Ananas comosus L. Merr) breeding programme in Côte d’Ivoire considers fruit diversification as key component in the international pineapple industry. The objective of this study was to determine the sexual compatibility of female pineapple clones recently developed in Côte d’Ivoire. Three female hybrid clones, 410- 106-33, 410-200-15, 103-104-6; one variety, known as Queen Victoria RE43; as well as two Smooth Cayenne varieties HA10 and HA25 used as controls, were tested in this study. They were inter-crossed according to a 6x6 complete diallel mating system with selfings. Results showed that female hybrid clone 410-200-15, was the least inter-compatible; implying that it can be indifferently cultivated in single or mixed-crop fields. This was followed by the genitors RE43 and 410-106-33. The response pattern could be due to the relatedness existing among these three clones. Conversely, hybrid clone 103-104-6 was the most inter-compatible. In this case, it needs to undergo successive back-crosses, using the parent HA10 as donor, before on-farm evaluations. The female clones 410- 106-33 and RE43 produced the heaviest and the lightest fruits, respectively.

Keywords: Ananas comosus, back-cross, Côte d’Ivoire