Breeding report of a new mid-late-maturing sweet cherry cultivar Fuyang

Abstract: Fuyang (Prunus avium L.) is a new mid-late-maturing sweet cherry. The seeding was derived from a cross between Hei Zhenzhu and Summit + Van in 2003 at Yantai Academy of Agricultural Sciences. The obtained seeds were sowed in the spring of 2004, and the hybrid seedlings were planted in the Zhifu District of Yantai in the spring of 2005, and started to bear fruit in 2008. The strain numbered 03-5-8 with large fruit, purple-black skin, and strong productivity was finally selected as the superior line. In the summer of 2010, we propagated nursery trees of it with Daqingye (P. pseudocerasus L.) as rootstock for field trials. In February 2017, it passed the validation of Shandong Province Forest Tree Variety Validation Committee. The tree posture of Fuyang was moderate and open. The height of 6-yearold tree was 3.4 m. The crown diameter was 4.1 m×4.2 m. The perennial branches were grayish white, and the 1-year-old branches are grayish brown. The leaves were long spindle-shaped and light green. The middle leaf of the developed branch was 15.41 cm in length and 7.37 cm in width. The length of petiole was 3.25. The leaf margin was compound, shallow and blunt. The nectary was kidney-shaped, dark red, oblique or opposite. Fuyang had strong tree vigor, being more vigorous than Van. The trees in the full fruit period mainly had short fruit branches and bouquet fruit branches, accompanied by axillary flower buds. It would start to bear fruit in the 3rd year after planting, and the natural fruiting rate was as high as 56.1%. Using the spindle shaped branching, the yield of the 4-year old tree was 268 kg·666.7 m-2 , the yield of the 5-year old tree was 436.2 kg · 666.7 m- 2 , and the yield of 6-year-old trees was 763 kg · 666.7 m- 2 . The fruit was heart-shaped, with purple black and shiny peel, dark red pulp and juice. The average sin-gle fruit weight was 9.7 g, and the pedicel was medium-short, with a length of 3.45 cm. The soluble solids content was 18.7%, the total sugar content was 11.62%, the total acid content was 0.61%, the edible rate of fruit was 94.6%. The fruit development period was about 55 d and it matured at the early June in Yantai. The bud burst rate was 98.2%, branching ability was high. The full-flowering was around April 18. No special disease was found in Fuyang. It had good storage life. It would be suitable for planting in suitable planting areas for sweet cherry such as Shandong Province. The density should be (2.0-2.5) m× 4 m, the proper pollinizers should be Sparkle, Summit, Van et. al. The slender spindle tree form should be recommended.