‘Golden Honey 3', a new yellow-fleshed fresh peach cultivar

Abstract: China, the source origin of Prunus persica, is the largest peach producer in the world from1993. For a very long period, and till now, most fresh peaches produced in China are white-fleshed. The yellow-fleshed peach is also named‘Canning peach'. In recently years, more and more people pay more and more attention to the yellow-fleshed peach because of the exceptionally carotenoids which are beneficial to human health. Carotenoids that contain unsubstituted beta-ionone rings (including beta-carotene, alpha-carotene, beta-cryptoxanthin and gamma-carotene) have vitamin A activity (meaning that they can be converted to retinol) , and these and other carotenoids can also act as antioxidants. In the eye, lutein, meso-zeaxanthin, and zeaxanthin are present as macular pigments whose importance in visual function remains under clinical research in 2017. But there are few yellow-fleshed fresh peach cultivars available in China for farmers to choose. It's a big job for breeders to release more yellow-fleshed fresh peach cultivars. Aiming at fresh yellow-fleshed peach, we choose‘92-3-39', a middle season yellow flesh peach selection, as female parent and‘91-2-2', a early ripening yellow nectarine selection for pollen donation. In spring of 1997, the cross was done by artificial castrating, pollinating, and bagging in case of interference from non-targeting pollen. 23 hybrid fruits were harvested after matured. The fruits were cleaned and disinfected with 75% alcohol. Then, the seeds were drawn out, put on wet sterilized filter paper in petri dishes aseptically. Finally, the dishes were sealed with Parafilm and stored under temperature of 2-7 ℃ for about 90 days. When the seeds began to germinate, we planted them in Pindstrup's substrate. Till the seedlings grew up to about 5 cm tall, transferred to mixed substrate with full nutrition.Eleven seedlings were survived and transplanted to in vivo the next spring with 1 m in line and 4 m in row. The trees were pruned to V-shape. Other agronomic measures were done as normal. Two seasons later, most of the trees began to flower and fruit, ‘97-3-88', one of the hybrid seedlings, exhibited round, big, yellow fruits with good flavor and high yield which were prior to others in the followed 2 fruiting year. After 4 years grafted tree evaluation and distinctness, uniformity and stability tests, the selection was put on to pre-production tests. In 2015, this selection was authorized to release and named‘Golden Honey 3'. The fruit of‘Golden Honey 3'is round, incidentally accompanying a small tip. The fruit skin is covered with middle density of white fuzz. The ground of the fruit skin is yellow and mostly dyed dark red when matured. It's large with average fruit weight 258 g and up to 363 g for the big ones. The vertical, transverse and side diameters of the fruit are 76.7, 83.2, 80.2 mm, respectively. The flesh is yellow with much anthocyanin around the stone. The fruit texture is melting with middle amount of juice.The soluble solids, total sugar, total acid contents in the fruit juice are 11.8%-13.6%, 10.6%, 0.27%. The eating quality is very good. The stone is cling. The leaves of‘Golden Honey 3'are green and lanceolate in shape. It's length and width are 17.2 cm and 4.18 cm, separately. The lengths of petioles are about 0.8-1.4 cm with 2-3 reniform glands. The flower is non-showy with 5 petals. It's fertility and fruitful. In Zhengzhou, the bud break of‘Golden Honey 3'happens in end of February. The flowers start to open in late March and can last for 3-7 days. The fruits can be harvested from end of July to early of August, so the fruit development period is about 125 days. The leaves begin to fall in early November. The growth period is 240 days approximately. The tree is middle vigorous and half spreading. The ability of germinating and sprouting are on the average level. New branches are green with dark red coloration on sun side. The internodes on fruitful branches are 2.14 cm on average. The node order of flowering on fruiting branches is 1 to 2. Middle and long fruiting branches, with more double flower buds, are the main types of bearing branches. When full bearing period is coming, the vigorous may turn moderation and the new shoots may become a little shorter. The trees can start to fruit from the 2 ndseason after the grafted nursery stocks planted. The yield can reach 18.0 tons per hm2 in the third season and 37.5-45.0 tons in full bearing period. For cultivation techniques, nothing is special to pay attention. The fruit bagging is recommended to prevent infestation of pests and diseases. There are also some consumers preferring the uncolored golden fruits, so the fruits can be harvested with the bag un-removed.