A new early-maturing peach cultivar 'Yunongmixiang'

Abstract: ‘Yunongmixiang'is a new early-maturing peach cultivar which is derived from the cross‘Ba-yuexiang'בYuxiang'in 2000.‘Bayuexiang'and‘Yuxiang'were both bred by Henan AgriculturalUniversity.‘Bayuexiang'is a late-maturing, clingstone, white-flesh peach cultivar with good flavor.‘Yuxiang'is a middle-maturing, clingstone peach cultivar. The anthers of‘Yuxiang'at big bud stagewere collected. 260 flowers of female parent removed the corollas were pollinated and bagged in April 3, 2000. 121 fruits of the cross were harvested, and the cleaned seeds were stratificated. 72 seedlings wereobtained and planted at 0.5 m × 1 m in density in the next spring. No.‘00-7-12'was selected after morethan three years identification and tests. In 2012, the bud wood from this selection was grafted onto Chi-nese wild peach (‘Maotao') seedling rootstocks and planted in three sites in Henan province (includingXinzheng, Luoshan and Xincai) . The cultivar comparison trials with‘Yumeiren'as control were conduct-ed from 2012 to 2016 at each site. All testing trees were trained as open-center-natural form with spaced3 m in the rows and between rows 5 m. The tree, flower and fruit characteristics of‘00-7-12'were as-sessed in comparison trials from 2012 to 2016. The characteristics of‘00-7-12'were obviously betterthan‘Yumeiren'after 5 years of evaluation. Trees of ‘00-7-12' are vigorous with a semi-upright growthhabit. Leaves of ‘00-7-12' tree have reniform nectaries, and the average leaf size is 4.3 cm wide and17.4 cm long. The fruits of are mainly set on long branches. The earliest full bloom date was observed on 24 March at Xinyang which located in the south region of Henan province. Its flowers are nonshowy andfertile with abundant bright yellow pollen. The average ripening date in Henan was 25 June, about 90 d af-ter full bloom. The fruit shape of ‘00-7-12' is oblong while the fruit shape of‘Yumeiren'is ellipse. Theground color of fruit is white. There is short fuzz on the skin of fruit which characteristic was favorited byconsumers. Thirty fruit samples were collected each year to determine their weight, flesh firmness, soluble solids content, total sugar and vitamin C content. The average weight of single fruit is 148 g and could beup to 327 g if keeping 15-20 cm distance between fruits. Fruit weight of‘00-7-12'tends to increase asthe trees age. The average soluble solids content in the mature fruits is 15.0%, which is higher than that of‘Yumeiren'at 13%. The total sugar and total acid are 7.98 and 0.22%, respectively. The vitamin C contentis 12.2 mg·100 g^-1, obviously higher than control. The flesh is white and melting. The skin of mature fruit iseasy to peel. Its semi-freestone was favorited by consumers. Moreover, the consumers could be attracted bythe aroma with fruits of ‘00-7-12'. Fruits could be picked in June 18 and absolutely ripened in June 25.‘00-7-12' was certified by the evaluation committees of Henan province in 2016 and named‘Yunong-mixiang'.‘Yunongmixiang'is a high-productivity cultivar and suitable for cultivated in Henan province.