Breeding report of a new disease-resistant, middle ripening pear cultivar Shuoyu

Abstract: Shuoyu, a new resistant, middle ripening cultivar, was selected from hybrids of female parent Pyrus bretschneideri‘Yali’pear and male parent Pyrus ussuriensis × 03-08-080 pear. Yali pear is an old local cultivar in Hebei province, 03-08-080 is high resistant to pear scab which was selected from the hybrids between Pyrus ussuriensis‘Jingbaili’and Pyrus bretschneideri‘Yali’. After regional adaptability testing at three sites, including Changli county, Botou city, Luannan county in Hebei prov-ince from 2013 to 2019, it was finally examined and approved named as Shuoyu in 2020. This species is a deciduous tree. The tree growth potential of this cultivar is medium with half-upright tree gesture.The color of one-year-old shoot is black brown. Leaves are elliptic with serrate, gradually acute apex,absent lobe and wide wedge-shaped of leaf base, 13.04 cm long, 6.55 cm wide. Flowers are pink, and the relative position of petals (5-7) is overlap, the position of stamen which with more pollen is lower than that of stigma. The average full bloom date for Shuoyu was in mid-April, the flowering period is 10-12 days. The fruit development period is around 130 d and can be harvested in mid-late August in Changli area, Hebei province. The germination rate is strong, but the branching ability is general. Shuoyu is easy to form flower on short branches and possesses large number of flower buds. It is suit-able for close planting with spindle shape and cylindrical. After 3 years of planting, it begins bearing. After 7 years of planting, the productivity per 666.7 m² is 4170 kg at a certain density (1.00 m×4.00 m).The fruit is globose, fruit index 0.87, has yellow ground color. The average fruit weight is 413.93 g,maximum fruit weight can reach 438.75 g, fruit length and diameter are 8.03 cm and 9.28 cm. The flesh is white, crispy, and juicy, weakly aromatic, scarce stone cell and small core. The fruit quality is excel-lent, which showed average soluble solid content is 12.16%, while the soluble sugar content is 10.61%, the titratable acid content is 0.112%, flesh firmness 5.73 kg · cm^{- 2}. The variety has better adaptability, high and stable yield, and good quality. It is resistant to scab. When planting, plain or terrace with sandy loam soil should be selected, and irrigation should be convenient. It is suitable for close planting, the plant row spacing is (1-1.5) m × 4 m. Xuehuali and Huangguan can be used as the pollination cultivars.According to the orchard cultivation and management technology, the daily management of Shuoyu can be well. Shuoyu is suitable to be planted and popularized in Yanshan and Taihang mountain areas of He-bei province, and in pear producing areas which similar to this ecological type.