ASSOCIATION OF ALLELE VARIANTS OF GENE Rf WITH RED SKIN FRUIT COLOR OF APPLE CULTIVARS OF UKRAINIAN BREEDING

Aim. To estimate the possibilities of using the promising apple cultivars, created by the Institute of Horticulture (IH) NAAS, in the breeding programs according to the availability of valuable allele variants of gene Rf, related to red color of apple fruit. Methods. Polymerase chain reaction, electrophoresis in agarose gel, the evaluation of phenotype manifestation of the color trait of apple skin according to the grading system. Results. 17 genotypes of apple cultivars of different genetic origin, including 12 cultivars, breeded by IH NAAS, were identified by allele variants of gene Rf. The comparison was made between the genetic analysis results and visual observations of the phenotype manifestation of fruit skin color of different apple cultivars. Conclusions. Apple cultivars Amulet, Perlyna Kyieva and Edera, which are homozygous carriers of dominant alleles A(1) and A(2) of gene Rf are recommended as basic forms in breeding programs. It was demonstrated that exact prediction of apple skin color was possible only in case of the available homozygous genotype by both alleles of gene Rf.