RESPONSE OF PRODUCTIVE AND MORPHOVEGETATIVE TRAITS OF GLOBE ARTICHOKE (Cynara cardunculus var. scolymus) TO MASS SELECTION AND ESTIMATION OF THEIR HERITABILITY

There have been few reports on genetic parameters or artificial selection for growth traits in globe artichoke (Cynara cardunculus var. scolymus), the study of the effect of one cycle of mass selection and realized heritability estimates would be valuable for planning breeding strategies in this species. A C0 segregating population was formed from the cross of two contrasting seed-grown cultivars, Imperial Star and Estrella del Sur FCA. Selected plants for productive traits were intercrossed to produce a Cj population. The Q population along with the C0 population, both parents and the Fj were evaluated obtaining the response to selection and estimating realized heritability. Mass selection for increased yield and precocity was particularly successful, where for the first trait realized heritability reached 0.71 and 0.60 for the second one. For most traits, the observed values for realized heritability in the experiment (0.75, 0.61 and 0.52 for weight of the main head, marketable yield and length of the main head, respectively) indicate that a substantial part of the observed phenotypic variance is of additive nature. Therefore, in general, selection for these traits in seed-grown globe artichoke populations will be effective.