Breeding of a new early-ripening and yellow- fleshed peach cultivar Zhongtaojinyang

Zhongtaojinyang is an early ripening peach, derived from a cross between 98-6-40 and Shuangxihong in 2008 at the experimental field. The female parent 98-6-40 is an early- ripening yellow peach, which derived from Maygrand by open pollination in 1998. Shuangxihong, the pollen donation, is a yellow-fleshed nectarine. Zhongtaojinyang was first selected in 2011 for its large fruit, beautiful appearance, yellow and hard flesh, early ripening and high yield. It passed the final election, was named in 2017, and approved by Henan Forest Variety Certification Committee in 2021. The leaf shape is long lliptic-lanceolate, with 14.16 cm in length and 3.78 cm in width and 0.8 cm petiole, which has about 2 to 3 reniform leaf glands. The flowers are less showy and dark pink. Under normal cultivation conditions, the average fruit weight is 190 g, and the maximum fruit weight is 250 g. Fruit is mainly round with two symmetrical halves, and also has a flat top with shallow cavity and the suture, and consistent mature state. The peel has beautiful bright red color covering approximately 95% fruit surface area with yellow background and short fuzz. Its flesh is yellow and firm texture. The peel cannot be peeled, and the core is clingstone. The flavor is fragrant and sweet, with a soluble solids content of 13.5%-15.0%. It is self-fertile and its yield is relatively stable through the experiments in Wenxian, Xinxiang and Xihua county of Henan province, and Mengyin county of Shandong province. The experiment results also show that under the condition of strictly flower and fruit thinning, the cultivar exhibits large fruits and high soluble solids content, and the quality is more excellent. In Zhengzhou, situated in the middle of China, the first flower of Zhongtaojinyang comes into bloom in late March. Fruits ripen in mid to lateJune, about 85 d after blooming. The termination period of fallen leaves is in mid-November, and the full growth period is 260 days. Compared with the current main planting variety Huangjinmitao 1 that has yellow flesh and matures in mid-June, Zhongtaojinyang fruit ripens about 7-10 d later and has larger size. The tree of Zhongtaojinyang has a strong tree vigor, and a special attention should be paid to control the tree vigor during cultivation; Y-shape system can be adopted, with a ridge height of 2.0 m and a ridge width of 4.0-5.0 m. It is necessary to properly control the fertilizer and water and avoid flood irrigation. The fruit setting rate of this variety is very high, it is necessary to increase the intensity of thinning flowers and fruits, and the distance between fruits should be greater than 15.0-20.0 cm. The appearance of fruit is very beautiful, and it can be cultivated without bags. However, in areas with heavy rain in the south, there is a phenomenon of cracked fruits, and bagging cultivation is recommended. The bagging time is generally carried out after the fruit is set when the fruit development enters the stone hardening stage, and the insecticide and fungicide need to be sprayed before the bagging. The fruit has a moderate hardness, which needs to be harvested in a timely manner, and the whole cold chain transportation is better.