Breeding report of a new pear cultivar‘Qiuguang’

Abstract:‘Qiuguang’is a new late-maturing, table pear with excellent appearance. The seeding was derived from a cross between‘Huangguan’and‘Jinhua 4’in 2003 at experimental field. It was initially selected in 2009 for its excellent appearance and flavor. Through artificial hybridization pollination, 1 021 hybrid seeds were got. After regional adaptability testing at five sites (Xinji city, Cixian county, Handan city, Shijiazhuang city, Botou city and Chicheng county of Hebei province) over nine years from 2009 to 2018,‘Qiuguang’was finally selected in 2018. This species is a deciduous trees; the tree is semi-vigorous with ramose crown and semi-open tree gesture. Young branches are densely pubescent, then glabrous, yellowish- brown in color. Leaves is ellipse, abrutly tapered, 10.5 cm long, 8 cm wide, sharply serrated. Flower is white, pedicel villous. Fruit is mainly conical and core small, has green-yellow with small lenticels and thin peel and light ware surface. Its flesh is white, crisp, rich juice, fine texture and sweet taste. The average fruit weight 343.4 g, fruit shape index 0.97. The content of soluble solid 13.2% and the titratable acid 0.27%, hardness 5-7 kg · cm-2 . Quality is excellent. It usually sprouts in the late March, blooms in the early April in Shijiazhuang, the flowering period is 6-9 days. The fruit development period is 150-160 d and it matures at the mid-September in Shijiazhuang area; the number of inflorescence 5-8, the average number of fruit moss pairs 1.64, with the ability of continuous bearing. The main bearing branches were short branches (the ratio of long, medium, short branches and axillary flower buds is 32.9%, 14.27%, 32.63% and 20.2%), germination and branching ability is medium. It is resistant to cold, venturia disease, dry-rot disease. The fruit has very long storage-life, cold storage life is more than 8 months and shelf life is over 20 days. It is suitable to be cultivated and developed in Hebei and surrounding plains and hills, and potential to the other apricot suitable planting areas of China, this variety can bear fruits in the third year after planted, has high yield potential. Orchard should choose neutral sandy soil which is flat and has ability of moisture and fertilizer retention; it is suitable for close planting because of its medium and weak vigor, spacing in the rows and spacing between rows are (1-2) m×(3-4) m ,‘Huangguan’pear and‘Yali’pear are the most suitable pollination trees, and the configuration of pollinizer is (4-5):1; pruning includes pinching, bending and back spune, aiming at controlling tree size and maintaining tree vigor.