Breeding report of a new Torreya grandis cultivar Panyuefei

Abstract: Panyuefei was selected from seedlings of wild Torreya grandis and the maternal plant of 600 years old was discovered in 2004 in Anwen Town, Pan’an County of Zhejiang province. The numbers of asexual progenies through grafting have expanded to 160 since 2005. The new variety of Torreya grandis was registered in 2020 and was named Panyuefei after several years’selection. The outstand-ing feature of Panyuefei was that some seeds, nuts, and kernels were long extra and curved in shape,which was obviously different from the major variety Xifei. Therefore, morphological measurements showed that the average shape index of seed was 2.05 according to the average diameter in verticality of 3.78 cm and that in horizon of 1.85 cm. The average shape index of nut was 3.11 derived from the ra-tio of the vertical diameter of 3.55 cm and the horizontal diameter of 1.14 cm. The average mass of single fresh nut and dry kernel was 2.7 g and 1.2 g, respectively. The thickness of the peel and the shell was 0.37 cm and 0.07 cm, respectively. The weight of fresh nut was 32.87% of that of the seed; the mass of dry nut was elevated to 63.56% of that of the seed; the mass percentage of dry kernel is up to 70.12% of dry nut. Assay of nutrition content showed that the content of fat, total sugar and soluble pro-tein was 55.4%, 6.16% and 8.92% of dry kernel, respectively. An outstanding feature of processing in Panyuefei was that the endopleura was easy to remove from the nut after baking and the nut tasted crisp mainly resulted from the high content of fat. Analyses of hereditary difference by PCR amplification using SSR molecular markers showed that Panyuefei had unique DNA brands and was absolutely distin guished from Pananchangfei in genome. Survey of phenological period showed that the floral buds of Panyuefei sprout in late March, and the effective pollination were performed in the mid-April. The fruits matured at mid-September of next year in Pan’an County of Zhejiang province. Seedlings in nurs-ery and young trees needed surroundings of high humidity and shading during May to September for avoiding of exposure to hot and strong sunlight. At present, Panyuefei grew well at 200-800 meters above sea level in the mountain areas of Pan’an County and required cultivation managements similar with Torreya grandis‘Xifei’. Young trees derived from three-years-old seedlings grafted on the stocks could be used in forestation in large-scale with planting density of no more than 670 plants per hm 2 or with row spacing of 4m×4m, and male plants could be planted less than 5% of female plants per hm².Production measurements of adult trees of Panyuefei would be focused on promotion of comprehensive resistance to pests and diseases by proper fertilizing, weeding and soil loosening, as well as on early bearing and yield improvement by proper pruning and training.