Pedigree of PI 414723 Melon

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Cucurbit Genetics Cooperative Report 15:51-52 (article 17) 1992

James D. McCreight, G. Weston Bohn, and Albert N. Kishaba
U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, 1636 East Alisal Street, Salinas, CA 93901

PI 414723 from India has received much attention from breeders, pathologist and entomologists for resistances to: zucchini yellow mosaic and watermelon mosaic viruses including resistance to virus multiplication (5, 7, 8), powdery mildew resistance (4), melon aphid, Aphid gossypii Glover (3) and mosaic virus transmission by the melon aphid (6). It is, however, susceptible to western flower thrips, Frankliniella occidentalis Pergande (2). PI 414723 was derived from PI 371795 (10) which was obtained in 1948 by Walter N. Koelz in Mussoorie, Uttar Pradesh, India (altitude 1829 m) and which resembled the Indian variety ‘Kjira’ as described by Corley (1): the fruit have soft flesh and rind which split at maturity and are used in soups and stews, and the seeds are roasted and eaten.

In this report, we provide some details about the derivation of PI 414723 from PI 371795. Table 1 includes PI and progeny numbers that have appeared in reports by various authors about these PIs and related progenies. The present authors welcome any questions or comments about these plant materials.

In summer 1959, PI 371795 was planted in the field at Torrey Pines, California. Follwing a chance infestation of melon aphids, the single plant in PI 371795 was free of aphids; all of the others were covered with them. Seven or eight self-pollinated fruit were obtained from the plant to produce progeny 90234 (sometimes designated LJ 90234).

As might be expected, PI 371795 was not homogenous for plant and fruit characters and aphid-resistance. Three self-pollinated progenies of PI 371795 produced by Fred Andrus at Charleston, South Carolina were susceptible to aphids and differed from 90234 for fruit and plant characters (unpublished data).

In 1969, resistance to the melon aphid in 90234 was confirmed in controlled, greenhouse tests at Riverside. Melon aphid-resistant inbreds of 90234 were bulked and designated PI 414723. Breeding for melon aphid resistance culminated in the release of three orange flesh melon aphid resistant breeding lines (3).

Table 1. ‘Pedigree’ of PI 414723, and related progenies.

PI/Progeny

Notes
PI 37195 The C. melo contaminant of PI 175111 (C. sativus) designated as to PI 37195 in 1972 (9, 10).
90234 S1 Self-pollinated seeds from a single plant of PI 371795. (1959)
91060 S2 Melon aphid-resistant selection of 90234. (1969)
91213 S3 Melon aphid-resistant selection of 91060 (1971)
PI 414723 S1Sb1Bulk of seeds from 16 (91756-91772) sib-pollinated aphid-resistant 90234 plants. (1977)
92417 S2 Bulk of nine (90303, 91202-91205, 91209, 91229A and 91381) self-pollinated melon aphid-resistant plants of 90234; not released. (1977)

z Some authors included LJ (LaJolla) for the former USDA station at La Jolla on Torrey Pines Mesa as a prefix to the five-digit pedigree numbers.

 Literature Cited

  1. Corley, W.L. 1966. Some preliminary evaluations of Cucumis plant introductions. U. Ga. Agr. Expt. Sta. Bull. N.S. 179: 1-58.
  2. Kishaba, A.M., G.W. Bohn, and H.H. Toba. 1971. Resistance to Aphis Gossypii in muskmelon. J. Econ. Entom. 64:935-937.
  3. McCreight, J.D., and G.W. Bohn. 1984. AR Hale’s Best Jumbo, AR 5, and AR Topmark: Melon aphid-resistant muskmelon breeding lines. HortScience 19:309-310.
  4. McCreight, J.D., M. Pitrat, C.E. Thomas, A.N. Kishaba, and G.W. Bohn. 1987. Powdery mildew resistance genes in muskmelon. J. Amer. So. Hort. Sci. 112:156-160.
  5. Munger, H.M. 1991. Progress in breeding melons for watermelon mosaic resistance. Cucurbit Genet. Coop. Rpt. 14:53-54.
  6. Pitrat, M. and H. Lecoq. 1980. Inheritance of resistance to cucumber mosaic virus transmission by Aphis gossypii in Cucumis melo. Phytopathology 70:958-961.
  7. Pitrat, M. and H. Lecoq. 1984. Inheritance of zucchini yellow mosaic virus resistance in Cucumis melo L. Euphytica 33:57-61.
  8. Romanow, L.R., J.W. Moyer, and G.G. Kennedy. 1986. Alteration of efficiencies of acquisition and inoculation of watermelon mosaic virus 2 by plant resistance to the virus and to an aphid vector. Phytopathology 76:1276-1281.
  9. U.S. Dept. Agric. 1956. Plant Inventory No. 157. Plant Material Introduced January 1 to December 31, 1949 (Nos. 172311 to 185795.
  10. U.S. Dept. Agric. 1975. Plant Inventory No. 180. Plant Material Introduced January 1 to December 31, 1972 (Nos. 368261 to 377554).