Pineapple Breeding for Quality Improvement in South Vietnam

N.T. Nhat Hanga, N.T.N. Diem and N.M. Chau

Southern Fruit Research Institute (SOFRI)
PO Box 203, My Tho
Tien Giang
Vietnam

Keywords: Ananas comosus, collection, selection, breeding

Abstract
Systematic research for cultivar improvement was initiated at the Southern
Fruit Research Institute (SOFRI), Vietnam. Initially, priority was given to field
collection of local and introduced pineapple cultivars and to characterizing and
evaluating available genetic resources. Four local ‘Queen’ pineapple cultivars were
selected viz., ‘CDD-11.55.01’, ‘CDD-12.55.02’, ‘CDD-33.55.03’, and ‘CDD-27.55.04’
with better fruit quality, high yield capacity and adaptability to the acid sulfate soil
of Mekong Delta. A follow up breeding program put emphasis on fruit cylinder
shape, large size, shallow eye and eating quality using ‘Cayenne TL2’ × ‘Queen III-
1’, ‘Cayenne TL2’ × ‘Queen II-6’, ‘Cayenne GU114’ × ‘Queen II-6’. Several hybrid
plants were planted and screened in the field. Among these, three were better in
terms of fruit cylinder shape, fruit weight (1500-1760 g), total soluble solids (18.4-
19.4%), and edible portion (56.3-75.4%); the flesh color was intermediate yellow to
yellow. The advances obtained from this breeding work are being evaluated as
suitable cultivars for local and processing markets.

INTRODUCTION
Pineapple is an important tropical fruit of Vietnam as it has a high local demand
and potential for export markets as processed products. In Vietnam, the cultivation of
pineapple has been a commercial practice for many years with a total area of about
47,400 ha and production of 472,900 t. The ‘Queen’ pineapple has been cultivated for a
long time in the acid sulfate soil of the Mekong Delta where the area and production are,
respectively, approximately of 22,400 ha and 261,320 t. This is the largest area planted to
pineapple in the country and the provinces with the largest pineapple-growing area are
Tien Giang, Kien Giang, Long An and Hau Giang (Institute of Agriculture Planning and
Designing, 2008). The collection of clones has been carried out by the Southern Fruit
Research Institute (SOFRI) since 1996. Since 1996, the demand for concentrated juice
and canned products has been high. The promising pineapple cultivars that were collected
and selected have been multiplied for planting materials (Chau, 1998, 2001). Plants are
arranged in the field in two rows with an adequate walk space to allow for field activities
and a planting density of 55,000-60,000 plants ha-1 (Hang et al., 2006). Four promising
‘Queen’ clones ‘CDD-11.55.01’, ‘CDD-12.55.02’, ‘CDD-33.55.03’ and ‘CDD-27.55.04’
from the field located in Tien Giang and Long An provinces were developed through
clonal selection for higher vigor, higher yield in the acid sulfate soil of the Mekong Delta.
These clones were eventually released to the farmers (Diem and Lieu, 2006). Thirty
pineapple cultivars were collected from different geographical locations for identification
using randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD markers). The research will
establish genetic relationships among pineapple cultivars and may facilitate the
management of pineapple germplasm for breeding purposes (Hanh et al., 2006). Recently,
a breeding program was established for the improvement of pineapple cultivars with fruit
cylinder shape, large fruit size, shallow eye, high sugar and vigorous growth in the acid
sulfate soil of the Mekong Delta. The novel characters will be evaluated to determine
their suitability for improving pineapple cultivars with superior characteristics as fresh
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Acta Hort. 902, ISHS 2011
fruit and the source of processed products. This paper discusses initial results obtained by
breeding and improvement of pineapple cultivars by SOFRI.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Collection and Conservation

In 1994 when SOFRI was established, the collection and conservation of
pineapple was started. Cultivars were collected from different geographical locations. The
collection consisted of clones of ‘Smooth Cayenne’ and ‘Queen’ and included 46
accessions collected and planted in the germplasm orchard of SOFRI.

Selection of Promising Clones and Enhancement

The selections were conducted at Tien Giang and Long An province in 2006.
Selection among clones of the ‘Queen’ group offer the possibility for improvement over
plants from a commercial field. The aim was to identify superior individual plants that
produce larger fruits with high yield capacity that were better adapted under the acid
sulfate soil of the Mekong Delta. Four promising clones were selected from local
cultivars and named ‘CDD-11.55.01’, ‘CDD-12.55.02’, ‘CDD-33.55.03’ and ‘CDD-
27.55.04’. The four were evaluated based on the fruit descriptors of the International
Board Plant Genetics Resources (IBPGR) and observed for 3 years. These clones were
eventually multiplied and released to the farmers.

Hybrid Development
A pineapple breeding program was initiated at the Southern Fruit Research
Institute in 2006 using the parents ‘Cayenne GU114’, ‘Cayenne TL2’, ‘Queen CDD-
11.55.01’, ‘Queen II/6’ and ‘Queen III/1’. Direct and reciprocal crosses were made with
the objective of producing F1 hybrids that had good characteristics. The crossing
techniques of Tuc (1996), Leal and Coppens (1996) and Chan et al. (2003) were followed.
The selected F1 hybrids were planted in the field and evaluated for yield and agronomic
characters.

Randomly Amplified Polymorphic DNA for Identification of Genetic Relationships

Thirty pineapple cultivars were collected and conserved at the germplasm orchard
of SOFRI. Sixty primers (Operon primers, Operon Technology) were tested for their
ability to amplify fragments of the DNA obtained from thirty cultivars. The cluster
analysis used simple matching coefficients and was computed with the help of NTSYS-
pc, version 2.0.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Collection and Conservation

The collected accessions could be divided into the fundamental groups ‘Smooth
Cayenne’ and ‘Queen’ (Table 1). These plants will be conserved and evaluated further
and used in current and future breeding programs. One clone with good performance was
registered to Ministry of Agriculture and rural Development (MARD) in 2006 as
‘Cayenne Long Dinh 2’.

Selection of Promising Clones and Enhancement

The fruit weights, grams, of the four selected clones were ‘CDD-33.55.03’, 1112;
‘CDD-11.55.01’, 1112; ‘CDD-12.55.02’, 1109; and ‘CDD-27.55.04’, 1077 and all were
higher than control fruit (975.2 g) (Table 2). Fruit yields also were higher and ranged
from 57.2 to 58.5 t ha-1, where the control yielded only 48.8 t ha-1.

Hybrid Development
In hybridization for improvement of pineapple, the selection of parents has usually

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been based on the principle that the strength of one complements weaknesses of the other.
Cultivated pineapple is self-incompatible but sets seeds readily when different cultivars
are crossed. Hybridization is essential to improve important certain characteristics such as
increase carotene content, lower acidity, which cannot be achieved by clone selection
(Wortman and Kerns, 1959). The direct crosses of ‘Cayenne GU114’ × ‘Queen II/6’,
‘Cayenne TL2’ × ‘Queen II/6’ and ‘Cayenne TL2’ × ‘Queen III/1’ resulted in F1 hybrids
selected from the progenies that had greater plant heights than the ‘Queen’ parent and
similar or slightly small plant heights than the ‘Smooth Cayenne’ parent (Table 3). Fruit
weights were greater than those of the ‘Queen’ parents and similar to, or in one case,
greater than the ‘Smooth Cayenne’ parent. Total soluble solids were mostly higher than
either parent while ascorbic acid was lower than the ‘Queen’ parent and comparable to
that of the ‘Smooth Cayenne’ parents.

Randomly Amplified Polymorphic DNA for Identification of Genetic Relationships

Synthetic deoxyribo-nucleotides were used as primers for amplification of
pineapple DNA. Among the 60 primers tested, 13 RAPD primers designated as OPA-03,
OPA-04, OPA-10, OPA-13, OPD-02, OPD-03, OPD-07, OPD-13, OPC-11, OPC-15,
RAPD-02, RAPD-03, RAPD-04 produced bands. Cluster analysis conducted on the
RAPD markers produced a dendrogram of the genetic relationship of the 30 pineapple
cultivars (Fig. 1).
The genetic distances among the cultivars analyzed ranged from 81% for closely
related cultivars and 44% for those more distantly related. The results of the dendrogram
separated the thirty cultivars into two major groups. Group I included five cultivars
including ‘Cayenne’ introduced from Thailand, ‘Thom Ha Noi’, ‘Thom BT23’,
‘ThomBT27’, and ‘Queen Tay Ninh’ (Fig. 1). Group II included the remaining twenty
five cultivars, which were separated into two minor groups (Fig. 1). Group II-1 consisted
of the closely related cultivars ‘ThơmBT9’, ‘ThơmBT29’ and ‘ThơmBT39’ and these
cultivars were all derived from Ben Tre province. Group II-2.1 included the cultivars
‘Cayenne UcI và’ and ‘Cayenne UcII’ and these cultivars were introduced from Australia.
Group II-2.2 included the closely related ‘Cayenne Ivory Coast’ and ‘Cayenne Dai
Loan BL’ which had a close genetic relation to ‘Cayenne Martinique-I’. ‘Cayenne Ivory
Coast’ and ‘Cayenne Martinique-I’ were originally from the French. ‘Cayenne Thai Lan
MC’, ‘Cayenne Dai Loan I’, ‘Thom Nhat’, ‘Thom Phung’, ‘ThomBT28’, ‘ThomBT24’,
‘ThomBT22’, ‘ThomBT25’, ‘ThomBT32’, ‘ThomBT30’, ‘ThomBT31’, ‘Thom Tay
Ninh’, ‘Cayenne Lam Dong’, ‘DN17’, ‘Cayenne Trung An’, ‘Khom Ben Luc’, ‘Khom
Kien Giang’ had similarity coefficients of about 70% (Fig. 1).

CONCLUSIONS
Throughout more than a decade of pineapple research at SOFRI, step wise
priorities and different study approaches, better adapted ‘Queen’ clones with greater
average fruit weights have been released to growers. A breeding program was established
and a number of potentially superior new hybrids have been produced. These new
cultivars with greater fruit weight, TSS and gold-yellow flesh color will be evaluated,
registered to MARD of Vietnam and released to growers. Future objectives should
include the improvement of pineapple fruit nutrient quality aspects such as higher vitamin
C, high antioxidants, and fruit with long-term shelf-life.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors are grateful to the Southern Fruit Research Institute, Ministry of
Agriculture and Rural Development for financial assistance to do research work. We also
thank the assistant researchers who have diligently helped in this research.

Literature Cited
Chan, Y.K., Coppens d’Eeckenbrugge, G. and Sanewski, G.M. 2003. Breeding and
variety improvement. p.33-55. In: D.P. Bartholomew, R.E. Paull and K.G. Rohrbach

117
 (eds.), The pineapple: Botany, production and uses. CAB International, UK.
Chau, N.M. 1998. Evaluation of fruit trees in the Mekong Delta: prospect in domestic and
export consumption. Workshop on commercialization of tropical fruit in South
Vietnam. Tien Giang, Vietnam, 12-13 June.
Chau, N.M. 2001. Fruit breeding and improvement at Southern Fruit Research Institute.
Papaya Network Technical Workshops and Coordination Meetings. My Tho and Ha
Noi, Vietnam, 22-26 October.
Diem, N.T.N. and Lieu, P.N. 2007. Selection of Queen Promising clones in fields.
Research report, SOFRI. Agriculture Publishing House, Ho Chi Minh city. p.116-126.
Hang, N.T.N., Thuy, N.P. and Chau, N.M. 2006. Preliminary result study on the cause of
concentration of nitrate contain on Queen pineapple. Research report, SOFRI.
Agriculture Publishing House, Ho Chi Minh city. p.116-126.
Leal, F. and Coppens d’Eeckenbrugge, G. 1996. Pineapple. p.565-606. In: J. Janick and
L.N. Moore (eds.), Fruit breeding, Vol. I, Tree and tropical fruit. John Wiley & Sons,
New York.
Wortman, S. and Kerns, K.R. 1959. The plant breeding program 1957-1958. Research
report No. 6. Pineapple Research Institute, Honolulu, Hawaii, 180p.

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 Tables

Table 1. The accessions collected at the Southern Fruit Research Insitute, Vietnam.

Location/ Location/
S.No. Queen S.No Cayenne Location/ introduced S.No. Cayenne
introduced introduced
1 Dai Nong 16 Chinese Taipei 1 Dai Nong 17 Chinese Taipei 17 Côte D’Ivoire French
2 Nanas I Malaysia 2 Dai Loan 1 Chinese Taipei 18 MC Thailand
3 Nanas II Malaysia 3 Dai Loan 2 Chinese Taipei 19 Cayenne Long Dịnh 2 Thailand
4 GU 44 French 4 Uc 1 Australia 20 Nam Feung Thailand
5 TA 39 French 5 Uc 2 Australia 21 Cayenne Trung Quoc China
6 GF 450 French 6 Patavia Thailand 22 Thom Nhat 2 Japan
7 GU 76 French 7 Martinique I French 23 Josapine Malaysia
8 RE 44 French 8 Martinique II French 24 Thom đo Vinh Kim
9 BR 338 French 9 GU 114 French 25 Thom kieng MyTho
10 BR 316 French 10 GF 449 French 26 Thom Trung An Trung An
11 TH 630 French 11 Au 124 French 27 Thom Nhat Trung An
12 Khom Phung Tan Phuoc 12 FC French 28 Thom Nghe An Phú thọ
13 Ben Luc Tan Phuoc 13 Ci 036 French 29 Thom Lam Đong Lam Đong
14 Kien Giang Tan Phuoc 14 Ci 09 French 30 Thom Hoai Nhon Hoai Nhon
15 Khom Hoa Tan Phuoc 15 AN 38 French
16 Khom Tây Thanh Phu 16 HA 10 French
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 Table 2. The characteristic of promising ‘Queen’ clones.
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Weight of fruit Yield Acidity Vitamin Brix

Queen clones Flesh color
(g) (t/ha) (g/100 ml) (mg/100 ml) (%)
CDD-33.55.03 1112.3 57.2 2.40 23.0 15.4 Yellow
CDD-12.55.02 1109.3 58.5 1.85 20.6 15.5 Yellow
CDD-11.55.01 1112.0 58.3 1.89 24.4 15.8 Yellow
CDD-27.55.04 1077.3 57.2 1.90 17.2 16.1 Yellow
Control-1 1012.0 49.8 1.55 22.8 15.6 Yellow
Control-2 975.2 48.8 1.37 18.1 16.0 Yellow

Table 3. The characteristic of F1 hybrids and their parents.

‘D’ leaf Plant

Parents and F1 Leaf Fruit weight, Brix Vitamin C
length height Fruit shape Flesh color
Cayenne × Queen type no crown (g) (%) (mg/100 ml)
(cm) (cm)
GU114 × II/6 (D 1-5) Spine 95.2 102.9 1500 19.4 8.5 Cylindrical Gold-yellow
TL 2 × III/1 (B 2- 6) Spine 90.8 106.0 1622 17.4 8.3 Cylindrical Yellow
TL 2 × II/6 (A 2-2) Spine 94.3 102.7 1760 18.4 8.3 Cylindrical Yellowish
Cayenne GU114 Spineless 97.4 117.8 1573 15.8 7.8 Cylindrical Yellow
Cayenne TL 2 Spineless 92.0 102.9 1517 17.1 8.2 Cylindrical Yellowish
Queen III/1 Spine 65.1 88.9 1036 15.9 17.2 Cylindrical Yellow
Queen II/6 Spine 65.3 90.1 1043 16.5 18.1 Cylindrical Yellow

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Figures

Fig. 1. Dendrogram showing genetic relationships among 30 cultivars and clones based
on randomly amplified polymorphic DNA marker (RAPD). The data consisted of
presence and absence information for 60 PCR amplification products generated by
a total of 13 primers. The cluster analysis used simple matching coefficients and
was computed with the help of NTSYS-pc, version 2.0.

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