Breeding report of a new drought-resistant and crack-resistant pomegranate cultivar ‘Qingli'

Abstract:‘Qingli'selected from Yicheng green husk pomegranate, is a new drought-resistant and crack-resistant pomegranate cultivar. In 2004, in order to breeding the pomegranate cultivars with crack resis-tance, drought resistance and storage resistance, our research group firstly carryed out the census pome-granate germplasm resources work in Zaozhuang, Jining, Taian, Yantai, Linyi and other places. We select-ed pomegranate superior individual, then weeded out the inferior individuals by cutting, grafting, and vari-eties comparison experiments, then checked out superior strains. After regional adaptability testing atthree sites(Wangfushan village, Liuyuan town, Yicheng district; Zhangzhuang village, Shagou town,Xuecheng district; Xi village, Xiwangzhuang town, Shizhong district) over seven years from 2006 to 2012,it was finally selected in 2013.‘Qingli'is a dwarfing tree, attaining a height of 2.6-4.2 m. The tree is vig-orous with semicircular crown and upright gesture. The trunk is grey-brown in color, glabrous. Perennialbranches are dark gray. Annual branches are pale, upright, have much hard stem thorn. Leaves oppositeor fascicled, long elliptic, entire, base cuneate, lobes acuminate, leaves are leathery and smooth. Youngleaves are yellow green, mature leaves are dark green, veins are yellowish green, 7.5 cm long, 1.9 cmwide, petiole pale violet red, 6 mm long. Flower is red, large amount, single-lobe and has 6 pieces petals,1 pieces pistil, about 110 pieces stamens. Calyx is tubular or bell-shaped, hypanthium medium, sepalserect. It flowers three times one year, and proportion of tubular flowers is about 28%. The fruit is nearlyspherical, bottom colour is yellow-green, fresh surface is red, average fruit mass is 410 g, Grain red, aver-age 100-grain mass 45 g, soluble solid content 17.1%, total acid content 2.70 g·kg^-1, fresh fruit juiceyield 47.5%. The fruit development period was about 125 d, and it matures in early and middle October inZaozhuang. The trees are drought-resistant, the average dehiscent fruit rate is lower than 6.2%. Suitablecultivation area is dry barren slope cultivation, this variety can bear fruits next year after planted, has highand stable yield, comprehensive quality excellent. The best planting area is in mountain and hill slope around 120 m above sea level, other slope is sub-suitable planting area. Orchard establishment in plainsand beaches percent, freezing injury should be considered, antifreezing measures should be taken.