Inheritance of berry volatile compounds in two half-sib grape ( Vitis vinifera ) populations

Inheritance of grape berry volatile compounds was studied in the half-sib populations of ‘Jingxiu’ × ‘Muscat of Alexandria’ and ‘Jingxiu’ × ‘Xiangfei’ during two successive years. Twenty-two volatile compounds were identified via GC–MS. Monoterpenes were detected in the paternal parents ‘Muscat of Alexandria’ and ‘Xiangfei’, which were Muscat grapes, but not in the non-Muscat maternal parent ‘Jingxiu’. Four C6 compounds, five carbonyls and one ester (ethyl acetate) were found in all the parents, 2-ethylhexanol (alcohol) in ‘Jingxiu’ and ‘Muscat of Alexandria’, and hexyl acetate (ester) in ‘Jingxiu’. The paternal effect varied with year, while the inheritance patterns of volatile compounds, except for ( Z )-linalool oxide, were stable between years and between populations. Four C6 compounds, five carbonyls, two esters and one alcohol were typical quantitative traits in both half-sib populations in 2 years. Most monoterpenes, including geraniol, α-terpineol and linalool, exhibited continuous variation in the half-sib progenies, but some other monoterpenes, such as ( Z )-rose oxide, nerol oxide, nerol, neral, geranial and geranic acid, appeared to segregate into presence or absence in the progenies (1:1). However, ( Z )-linalool oxide, behaved as a quantitative trait in the ‘Jingxiu’ × ‘Muscat of Alexandria’ population, but segregated into presence or absence (1:1) in the ‘Jingxiu’ × ‘Xiangfei’ population for both years.