Determination of hybrid potential of carrot germplasm

Abstract

The use of the seed of hybrid cultivars for carrot production in Turkey has reached to 90% and this hybrid carrot cultivar seed has been imported from abroad in Turkey, 2 t of seeds from open-pollinated cultivars and 18 t of seeds from hybrid cultivars were used for carrot production. While the seed of open-pollinated cultivars was sold for 150-200 TL kg(-1), the price of one kg of seed of hybrid cultivars was 7501,500 TL. Hybrid cultivars were preferred by producers due to the above mentioned reasons. The reasons why hybrid cultivars have been preferred for carrot production are high yield and uniform root size, shape, color and taste. In this research project, potential to convert open pollinated cultivars collected from Turkey and abroad to hybrid cultivars will be determined. Petalloid cytoplasmic male sterility has been preferred because it is easy to observe male sterility from the morphology of carrot flowers. Therefore, for hybrid seed production, maintainer lines have to be identified to propagate male sterile female parent. This Project began at 2013 in Transitional Zone Agricultural Research Institute. This is a project of the General Directorate of Agricultural Research and Policies.