Alternaria late blight (Alternaria alternata) resistance in pistachio (Pistacia vera) and selection of resistant genotypes

Pistachio (Pistacia vera L.) progeny were evaluated at two locations in California for resistance to alternaria late blight caused by Alternaria alternata (Fries) Keissler in 1995 and 1997, Large differences in alternaria late blight infection among seedlings were observed. Narrow sense heritabilities based on half-sib analysis of 20 open pollinated families were 0.48 and 0.11 at Kearney Agricultural Center in 1995 and 1997, respectively, and 0.56 and 0.54 at the Wolfskill Experimental Orchard near Davis in 1995 and 1997, respectively. Differences among families to alternaria late blight infection were highly significant and associated with the female parents. Fifty-eight highly resistant seedlings were identified for future cultivar selection efforts.