Manova and discriminant analyses of phenotypic data as a guide for parent selection in kiwifruit (Actinidia deliciosa) breeding

Evaluation of seedling populations assists in identifying those plants most desirable as parents for a breeding programme. A multivariate analysis of variance (Manova) showed that the seedling populations from 6 kiwifruit (Actinidia deliciosa) crosses differed in their overall merit. Discriminant functions were then used to identify the characters most powerful in distinguishing between populations. The populations were placed in order of their function scores which represent overall merit, and the superior populations were determined. The results showed that `Bruno' was a superior female parent for the production of seedlings with high discriminant function scores for floriferousness (male offspring)and productivity and high vitamin C content (female offspring). One male parent D-1-20 was consistently superior to D-1-6 the other male parent. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.