Breeding report of a new mid-ripening red sand pear cultivar Jintong

Abstract: Jintong is a mid-ripening sand pears with excellent appearance. The new variety was derived from a cross between Jinshui 2 and Dalihuoba in 2007 at the Institute of Fruit and Tea, Hubei Academy of Agriculture Sciences. It was initially selected in 2016 for its red peel and sweet taste. After regional adaptability testing at three sites (including Wuhan, Jingmen and Enshi in Hubei province) over four years from 2017 to 2020, it was finally selected in 2021. The tree of the new cultivar is vigorous with spreading growth habit. Its annual branches are dark-brown in color, with few lenticels. The leaves are ovate, acuminate and sharply serrated. The color of unopened flowers is light pink, and anthers are fuch-sia. The fruit shape is mainly round, and peel has yellow green ground color with light red surface color.Its flesh is white, crispy, juicy and fine in texture. The average fruit weight is 251 g, maximum fruit weight is 532 g, fruit shape index is 0.98. The content of total soluble solids is 12.5%, the content of sol-uble sugar content is 7.84%, the content of total acid is 0.22%, the content of vitamin C is 0.15 mg·g^-1 ,the flesh hardness is 5.7 kg · cm^-2. The fruit quality is excellent. The fruit development period is about 140 d and it matures in the mid-August in Wuhan area. The number of flowers per inflorescence is from six to seven. The fruits are mainly bore on the spures. The capability of continuous fruiting is strong. It is resistant to drought and black spot disease. The fruits have long storage-life, the cold storage life is 3 months and the shelf life is over 20 days. The suitable cultivation areas are Hubei province and similar regions in the Yangtze River basin. This cultivar can bear fruits in the second year after planting, and  has high yield potential. The spacing of 3 m × 4 m is recommended. The most suitable pollination culti-vars for it would be Cuiguan, Wonwhang and Housui.