Breeding report of a new late ripening apple cultivar ‘Yueguan'

Abstract:‘Yueguan'is a late-season, table apple with bright colors, excellent appearance, thick taste,good quality, long storage, strong early-fruit, high-yielding, cold-resistance and wide suitable-area. Theseeding was derived from a cross between‘Hanfu'and‘Yueshuai'in 1996 at Liaoning Province Insti-tute of Pomology. It was initially selected in 1996, bred in 1997, fixed planting 768 in 1999 and fruitednumbered 410-20. After regional adaptability testing at more than ten sites(including Dalian, Wafangdi-an, Pulandian, Yingkou of Liaoning etc and Jilin, Heilongjiang, Hebei, Shanxi, Shangdong Province andso on) in 2008. In 2014, applied for provincial cultivar file. Tree of‘Yueguan'is open tree gesture andvigorous. Main branches are glabrous and dull grey-brown color. Young branches are yellow-brown withless pubescent. Matured leaves are dark-green and young leaves are green. 8.8 cm long, 5.5 cm wide,sharply serrated. There are five flowers on each unit in average, and flowers doubled. Flower is pink white,4.5 cm across. Seed are brown.‘Yueguan'Fruit is mainly round, has yellowish-green peel and light waresurface. Its flesh is yellow-white, crisp, rich juice, fine texture and aroma. The average fruit weight 225 g,maximum fruit weight 480 g, fruit shape index 0.86; 8 seed numbers per fruit. The content of soluble solidis 15.4%, the soluble sugar content is 12.6%, the content of total acid is 0.39%, average fruit firmness is9.8 kg·cm^-2, Vitamin C is 0.043 8 mg·g^-1. Quality is excellent. The fruit development period is 165 d andit matures at the end October in Xiongyue Liaoning area; germination rate is 62.3%, branching ability ismedium. The resistance to cold is between its parents, stronger than‘Yueshuai'and weaker than‘Han-fu'. It is resistant to powdery mildew, Valsa mali, early-falling disease and trunk canker. The fruit hasvery long storage-life, cold storage life is 6 months, after storage the fruit is quite good quality. It is a latemature cultivar with durable storage. Suitable cultivation area is similar like Dashiqiao and south of Linghai.this variety can bear fruits 3 years after planted, four-year trees has high yield potential of 19 335 kg·hm-2.Orchard should choose neutral sandy soil which is flat or less sloping and has ability of moisture and fertil-izer retention, spacing in the rows and spacing between rows are 3 m×4 m, the configuration of pollinizeris‘Fuji'‘Gala'‘Golden Delicious' ‘Yuanyanghong'and‘Hanfu'. Tree figure of standard rootstock issuitable freedom spindle shape and that one of close planting garden is suitable long and thin spindle.This cultivar branches are soft and spread. It is fit for shaping and blooming to fruit. After fruiting, it willrefresh branches, keep fruit abilities of branches and improve quality of fruits. Limited reasonable loadwithin 45 000 kg·hm^-2. Spraying calcium on leaves and fruits can effectively reduce the occurrence rate of‘Yueguan'water core. Generally fruit bags can be taken off before 15-20 days of mature, and color offruits is best. Fruits can be picked in the late of October.