An early ripening and hiyh quality flat nectarine cultivar Zhong Youpan 36-3

Abstract: Flat peach/nectarine is a very distinctive variety of peach with a flat, plate like fruit. For a long time, the proportion of the flat peach/nectarine in the whole peach production has been very limited. The main reason is that there are few varieties with large, non-cracking fruit and wide adaptability.In particular, because the fruit surface is not protected by the fuzz like peaches, the fruit rust or cracking of the flat nectarine frequently occur. This results in the low rate of the commercial fruits in rainy areas or years and the loss of the production value of flat nectarine. In recent years, as the fast development of peach breeding in China, more and more new varieties have been introduced into the market, including flat peach and flat nectarine cultivars. More new flat peach/nectarine varieties with different ripening stages are expected to meet market supply. In 2002, a cross was made between the 97-3-21, a flat nectarine selection with small to middle fruit ripening in late June, and the early ripening nectarine Zhong Youtao 5 in order to breed early ripening flat nectarine. 32 fruits were harvested. The embryos were cultured on WPM medium in tubes and stored in cold storage at 2-7 ℃ for more than 90 days. When the seeds began to bud in the mid of October, the tubes were transfered to the culture room under 16 ℃ and16/8 hours of light for 2 weeks. Finally, the seedlings were transplanted into nutrition pot(the matrix was peat∶vermiculite∶garden soil 1∶1∶1) in the solar greenhouse. In the mid of April of the next year,the hybrid seedlings were transplanted to the breeding nursery with a space of 4.0 m between the rows and 1.0 m in the row. The seedlings naturally grew to a spindle shape and were pruned slightly. Flowers differentiation occurred for the most of the seedlings in the autumn of 2004 and fruit bearing in 2005.The seedling numbered‘02-34-3'was selected because of its early maturity and excellent fruit quality.After many years regional test, in 2020, it passed the tree variety examination and approval of variey in Henan Province and was named Zhong Youpan 36-3 finally. The fruit size of Zhong Youpan 36-3 is medium, with an average fruit weight of 80-120 g and a maximum weight of 150 g. The shape of the fruit is flat, the top of the fruit is concave, and the fruit surface has some rust or sugar point in different years and under different management conditions. The background of the fruit skin is green-white, and the most parts of the fruit surface is covered with bright red and looks pretty. The pericarp is medium in thickness, difficult to peel. The flesh color is white, with a small number of anthocyanins under the skin and trace amount near the stone when the fruit is ripe. The fruit is crispy and sweet when it is hard ripe,and become juicy with soluble solid content 13.5%-16.9% when it is fully ripe. The stone is cling, with no split. Infrequently, slight fruit cracking occurs in rainy areas or seasons. In terms of phenological period, the flowering time is in mid-late March in Zhengzhou, and the fruit ripens in mid-June. The fruit develop period is about 80 days. The leaves fall from late October to mid-November, and the annual growth period are about 230 days. It would be suitable for open field and protected cultivation in northern China or rain shelter cultivation in southern China.