A new red pear cultivar (Pyrus pyrifolia) 'Ningxia'

Abstract: Pyrus pyrifolia‘Ningxia'is a new medium-maturing red pear cultivar with excellent appearance,which derived from the hybrid offspring of‘Mantianhong'בHosui'. This cultivar was bred by the Pear Centre of Engineering & Technology Research of Nanjing Agricultural University in 2004. The seedling was planted in 2005 and was initially selected in 2008 because of its high quality,such as bright red fruit skin and less rust. In 2009,the superior individual was selected,numbered05-03-30. It was grafted on adult trees in the experimental orchard of Shanghai,Nanjing,Xuzhou and Suzhou in spring of2010. After four years observation,the main economic characters of the superior individual was stable,which has high internal quality,bright red skin and high yield. The tree of this cultivar is vigorous with upright and semi-open tree gesture. Trunk is gray-brown and annual shoots are sepia-brown with no pubescent. The tree surface is smooth and the number of lenticels is medium and new shoots and leaves with yellow pubescent. The germination rate is medium and the branching ability is strong.Leaves are long oval and serrated,flowers are white. The resistance of tree is stronger and its environment adaptability is better. The fruit shape is oblate or subround. Its average fruit length is 7.05 cm,average fruit diameter is 7.82 cm,and fruit shape index is 0.901. The ground colour of the fruit skin is green with bright red toward the sun,and the skin is smooth and shiny. The fruit appearance has less rust along with more fruit dots and smaller calyx persistence. Its flesh is white,crisp,juicy,of little stone cells,tasting sweet and sour,containing a soluble solids of 12.5%,a titratable acids of 0.35%. The average fruit weight is 280 g,maximum fruit weight is 300 g. The quality is excellent,with 7.5 kg·cm-2fruit firmness(without peel). The fruit development period is 135-140 d and it matures at mid to late of August in Nanjing area. The tree is spreading and easy to produce flower buds with high yield character. This cultivar can bear fruits in the second year after planted and has high yield at the third year,and the average yield reached 10 kg per plant. It is suitable to be planted in Nanjing,Xuzhou,Shanghai,Suzhou,the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River,filling the blank of red pear germplasm resources in these area. Neutral soil should be chosen for the cultivar orchard,which has ability of moisture and fertilizer retention.The trees should be cultivated in rows of 4 m×5 m in the fertile soil and cultivated in rows of 3 m×4-4.5 m in the hilly land with general condition soil,and in rows of 2-2.5 m×4-5 m for“Y”tree shape.‘Cuiguan'and‘Cuiyu'can be used as the pollination varieties for this cultivar because of the same blooming time. To ensure high fruit quality,the trees should be strictly blossom-and fruit-thined and the per acre yield should be less than 2 000-2 500 kg. The reflective film on the ground has good effect on promoting the fruit surface coloring. In the period of fruit expansion,the nutrition should be replenished in time,especially calcium nutrition. After fruit harvest,a certain amount of organic fertilizer should be given.