A new soft-seed pomegranate cultivar Jumeiren

Abstract: Jumeiren is a new soft-seed and red-skin variety derived from a cross between Hongruyi and Wonderful. In 2007, Hongruyi was used as a female parent and Wonderful as a male parent to cross, and hybrid seeds were obtained in the same year. Seed stratification was made in winter. Sowing was carried out in 2008, and 518 hybrid seedlings were obtained. A small number of hybrid seedlings bore fruits in 2011. In 2012, 26 hybrid seedlings with good fruit quality were selected for regional trials by using grafting and cuttage methods in experimental gardens of Yicheng District and Shizhong District, Zaozhuang City, Shandong province, and Shangqiu City, Henan province. In 2013, Zj2007-26 individuals with excellent performance were propagated by cuttage. After 6 years of systematic observation, it was found that the superior plant had large fruit size, soft seed, sweet and sour flavor, and high soluble solid content. Jumeiren had characteristics of distinctness, uniformity, stability and fine comprehensive characteristics. This cultivar is a small tree, attaining a height of 2.5-3.0 m. The growth vigour of trees is moderate, and the crown is naturally rounded. The colour of trunk is taupe, young branches are greengray, and branch-forming force is strong. It has more branch thorns. The leaf shape is long elliptic, with 6.44 cm in length and 2.1 cm in width. Flowers are dark red and single, with higher proportion of bisex-ual flowers. The fruit is nearly spherical, with an average longitudinal diameter of 10 cm, an average transverse diameter of 11.85 cm, and a fruit shape index of 0.84. The fruit surface is smooth, the skin is dark red, the calyx tube is closed, and the ribbed ribs are not obvious. This cultivar is early maturing, and fruit surface is light red. The average fruit weight is 452 g, the average weight per 100 arils is 44.6 g, the seed hardness is 2.12 kg · cm- 2 , the total sugar content is 15.20%, and the ratio of sugar to acid is 50.0. The seeds are purplish red with a sweet and sour flavor. The fruit development period is 120 d and it matures in mid-to-late July in Mengzi city, Yunnan province. It is suitable to be cultivated in Yunnan province, Sichuan province, and other pomegranate producing areas in South China. Using facilities for cultivation can prevent tree freezing injury in northern pomegranate producing areas. Orchards should be chosen on the deep soil layer, good topography and water irrigation. This cultivar likes sufficient light and warm climate. The absolute minimum temperature should be above -10 ℃. Spacing in the row and spacing between rows are (2.0-2.5) m ×4.0 m. Fertilization period includes fertilizer in autumn and topdressing before flowering, young fruit swell stage, and fruit color turning stage. The fertilizer should be applied deep into 30-40 cm. Watering period includes pre-germination, pre- fruit expansion and pre- freezing. Pomegranate is afraid of waterlogging, and one should pay attention to drainage in rainy season. Training should be chosen as the main sparse layer system, spindle system,“Umbrella” system or“Inverted pyramid”system, setting trunk height at 80-100 cm. Pruning is mainly applied in spring, summer and autumn, the main methods are thinning out, removing water sprouts, pinching and rubbing branches, cutting back is only used in tree rejuvenation. In the growing season, it is necessary to take agricultural and physical prevention and control as the basis, biological prevention and control as the core, and chemical prevention and control as the supplement, to comprehensively prevent and control the occurrence and spread of diseases and insect pests. After defoliation and before bud break, the whole garden should be sprayed with 3-5 °Be lime sulfur mixture. It is necessary to put on white paper bags in time after physiological fruit drop and spray with insecticide and fungicide before bagging. And it is also important to lay black light lamp and frequency- vibratory insect light for controlling peach borer, yellow thorn moth and other pests.