An Analysis of Combining Ability for Height, Leaf Out, Bloom Date, and Flower Color for Crapemyrtle

Abstract

<jats:p>Breeding of crapemyrtle (<jats:italic>Lagerstroemia</jats:italic>) in the United States has focused on developing hybrids between parents with disease or pest resistance and those with good floral characteristics. The objective of this work was to study the general and specific combining ability of several horticulturally important traits in crosses between pest-resistant parents and those with saturated flower colors. Ten crapemyrtle parents were tested in a factorial mating design including 25 of the 29 possible families. Analysis of variance revealed significant differences (<jats:italic>P</jats:italic> ≤ 0.05) for all traits for the general combining ability of parents. The cross between ‘Arapaho’ and ‘WHIT IV’ displayed the best specific combining ability for a desirable combination of height, leaf-out time, bloom time, and flower color based on current breeding objectives. Overall, this study revealed the importance of both additive and nonadditive genetic variability in crapemyrtle, suggesting that an integrated breeding strategy to capture both additive and dominance variance would be appropriate for producing new, improved crapemyrtle clones for the four traits evaluated.</jats:p>

Decoding the formation of diverse petal colors of Lagerstroemia indica by integrating the data from transcriptome and metabolome

“…Lagerstroemia indica is a species of the Lagerstroemia genus that originated in China and is now widespread in most Chinese cities ( Liu et al, 2008 ). It is a type of garden tree with high decorative value and many wonderful ornamental characteristics, such as a long flowering period, distinctive floral shapes, and lovely features ( Pounders et al, 2007 ). Among others, the color of its petals with a wide hue (white, pink, red, purple, violet, and their combined colors) is most prominent.…”

Evaluation of Genetic Diversity and Pedigree within Crapemyrtle Cultivars Using Simple Sequence Repeat Markers

“…A larger number of genotypes needs to be evaluated to compensate for the increased number of alleles (Nei et al, 1983), but once a sufficient number of genotypes and phenotypes has been evaluated, linkage results might warrant MAS. Substantial crapemyrtle populations already exist in the form of diallel populations that have been analyzed for quantitative traits (Pounders et al, 2007b). These same populations could also be sampled to look for qualitative traits associated with the SSR markers described here, especially because the parents of the diallel crosses overlap with the cultivars used in this study and the progeny were already evaluated for a range of traits (Pounders et al, 2007b).…”

“…Substantial crapemyrtle populations already exist in the form of diallel populations that have been analyzed for quantitative traits (Pounders et al, 2007b). These same populations could also be sampled to look for qualitative traits associated with the SSR markers described here, especially because the parents of the diallel crosses overlap with the cultivars used in this study and the progeny were already evaluated for a range of traits (Pounders et al, 2007b). It is likely that additional associations might be uncovered as more SSR markers are screened (Wang et al, 2010).…”

Exploring the Molecular Mechanism underlying the Stable Purple-Red Leaf Phenotype in Lagerstroemia indica cv. Ebony Embers

“…Lagerstroemia indica L. is a deciduous shrub and small tree of the genus Lagerstroemia with a great ornamental value thanks to its attractive blossom, long-lasting flowering period, and vase-shaped features [1]. It originated in China and has long been used in landscaping in major cities, including Anyang, Fuyang, and Jincheng [2].…”