Breeding report of a new table mulberry cultivar‘Yueshen143’

Abstract：‘Yueshen143’(Morus atropurpurea Roxb.) is a new table mulberry cultivar selected from the seedling progenies of‘Tang10’בHangyou18’at experimental field of Guangdong Academy of Agricultural Sciences. In late March 2005, mature fruit of‘Tang10’בHangyou18’in the experimen-tal field were harvested and cleaned in room. The seeds were extracted and immediately stratified using the mosit sand in the 4 ℃ refrigerator. In late May, sowing and culture of seedlings in the greenhouse. The seedlings were polyploidy induction by treating the tips of caudices with colchicines, and screen phenotypic variant. In late September, the phenotypic variant seedlings were transplanted and planted in the experimental field. By the spring of 2007, most mulberry seedlings started to fruition. Based on eval- uation of main economic characters of fruits over 2 years, 182 seedlings ware picked out and numbered as M1-M182. In late December 2008, M1-M182 seedlings were grafting and propagation, Among them, M143 was initially selected in 2010 for its big berry, high uniformity, good taste, uneasily shedding rip-ening fruits and excellent eating quality. From 2011, it was evaluated again and selected as the final line. After several years of observation, it was finally released as‘Yueshen143’in 2015. This cultivar is strong growth potential with open tree gesture. The main fruit braches are the annual branches and the short fruit branches. It’s easy to form lateral flower buds on new shoots. Usually 4-9 fruits come out of every flower bud, and average 6.5 fruits per flower bud. The long and cylindrical ripening fruit are black, and with average fruit mass 7.8 g. It has pleasant sweet and little sour taste, a rich flavor and fine quality.‘Yueshen143’have very little malformed fruit and contains 76.4% juice productivity, 12.2%  soluble solids, 3.8 g·kg-1 titratable acid, 1.2 mg·g-1 anthocyanin. The fruits are hard and have excellent storage and transportation capacity.‘Yueshen143’is an excellent early-ripening mulberry cultivar, suit-able for planting in the south of the Yangtze River area of China. In Guangzhou,‘Yueshen143’germi-nation period in mid-late January, full-bloom period in early February. The fruit matures while it turns black in early Mar, and full- ripening period in mid-March. The fruit development time about 45-50 d, and harvest period is about 30-35 days.‘Yueshen143’can bear fruits next year after planted, with the yield more than 27 000 kg·hm^-2 in the 3rd year after planting. It is with poor cold tolerance and suitable to be planted in south of the Yangtze River area. The China Plant Variety Protection application for‘Yueshen143’was submitted in January, 2016, and gained authorization since January, 2018 (Grant No. CNA20160061.4).