A report on a new loquat variety Qianzao 1

Abstract: Qianzao 1 is a new loquat cultivar selected from the cross between Zaohong 3 as the female parent and Dawuxing as the male parent. In the summer of 2006, the hybrid seeds were harvested and sown immediately, and the seedlings were obtained in the autumn of the same year. After three consecutive years of observation from 2012 to 2014, an excellent early-maturing strain was screened out and was numbered QA0919. In Guiyang area, the fruit ripening period started in the middle and late April, over 10 days earlier than that of the female parent and over 20 days earlier than that of the male parent, similar to the ripening period of Zaozhong 6. From 2014 to 2019, the regional experiments and production experiments were carried out with Zaozhong 6 as the control. The new variety is productive and early ripening. The tree vigor is moderate, and the crown is spherical. The central trunk is obvious with gray-brown color. The number of natural growth lateral branches are 2-4, the branch tips are reddishbrown, the texture is medium, and the new shoots are hairy. The leaf posture is flat, the leaf form is oval, the leaf tip is acuminate, the leaf margin is rolled, the leaf surface is slightly wrinkled, and the texture is hard and thick. The shape of the inflorescence is short-conical, the rachis is obliquely upward, and the arrangement is dense; the petals are yellow-white, and the number of flowers per spike is 227. The flesh is hard and dense with orange color. The seed number per fruit are 4-5, the average single seed weight is 1.75 g, and the seed shape is triangular. The average single fruit weight of the mature fruit is 45 g. The soluble solids content is 14.8%, the reducing sugar is 6.5%, the titration acid is 0.29%, the vitamin C content is 6.8 mg·100 g-1 . The edible rate is 74.8%. Good earliness, the tree is precocious, 100% of the grafted seedlings would have flowers and bear fruits in the third year. In the main loquat producing area of Guizhou province, the growing period is 210 days, and the fruits ripen from late April to early May. The resistance to leaf spot disease is high (R), and its disease index was 9.33 (DI). It is strongly resistant to anthracnose, rust spot, fruit wrinkle, fruit sunburn and envirormental stresses as cold, barren soil and drought.