Pomological and Molecular Characterization of Pear Cultivars in the German Fruit Genebank

Pears (Pyrus spp.) are an important fruit crop worldwide. In Germany, the German Fruit Genebank manages a large collection of pear cultivars. In this work, we examined 421 pear cultivars of the German Fruit Genebank with regard to cultivar authenticity. Pyrus UNiQue genotype codes (PUNQs) were used for international harmonization of the genotype data. More than 60% of the cultivars have accessions which are true-to-type or true-to-type with reservation. We showed that a subset of SSR markers is suitable to distinguish all cultivars within the given dataset. An extensive parentage analysis unravelled 19 candidate offspring-parent trios. An investigation of the genetic structure revealed weak correlation between genetic structure and cultivar origin. In a tree based on genetic relationships, the conclusions of the previous two analysis were combined. We could observe sub-branches based on cultivar origin country and in relation to specific breeding programmes and parentage. Overall, we presented the value of the German Fruit Genebank’s pear collection and suitable analyses revealed new insights in the genetic structure and parentage.