Breeding report of a new ornamental peach cultivar Fenyujiaoxiang

Fenyujiaoxiang is a new ornamental peach variety selected from natural hybrid peach trees in Gansu province. Gansu peach is a small tree in the peach genus, with slender and hairless branches that turn green brown when exposed to sunlight. It has a single petal, 5 petals and 5 sepals, with a diameter of 3 cm. The flowering period starts on March 6th and lasts for 10-12 days. In 2013, 50 natural hybrid seeds from the mother plant of Gansu peach were collected from the Ornamental Peach Germplasm Resource Garden of Donghua Planting Farmers Professional Cooperative in Yanling county, Xuchang City, Henan province. In the autumn of 2013, 30 seedlings were successfully bred using conventional sowing and seedling cultivation methods. In March 2015, after 30 seedlings bloomed, a unique and excellent individual plant was discovered. The individual plant started flowering around March 5th, with light pink flowers that looked like roses before blooming and silk flowers when in full blooming, with a fragrant aroma and high ornamental value. Compared with similar varieties of Gansu peaches, the flowering period is significantly longer, the number of petals and sepals is higher, and the flower diameter is larger, showing obvious specificity. Subsequently, grafting and propagation were carried out using common peach as the rootstock. In 2016, after the grafting seedlings bloomed, the budbreak period, initial flowering period, peak flowering period and final flowering period were observed and recorded. The characteristics of flowers, leaves, fruits and other traits were recorded, and indicators such as flower diameter, internode length and fruit size were measured. Continuous grafting propagation for 5 years revealed stable traits in the offspring, consistent with the performance of the mother plant. By 2021, itwas finally determined to develop this variety. This tree has moderate vitality and is in a semi-open posture. Its branches are long and straight, with reddish brown color and medium internodes. The average length is 2.9 cm. Fruiting branches are mainly composed of long flower branches, easy to flower, with a moderate number of flower buds. The starting node bearing flower buds is at the 3rd to 4th node, and the average number of flowers on a single branch is 11. The flower is plum-blossom-shaped, double petaled, with an average diameter of 4.0 cm and an average of 37 petals. The petals are 1.50 cm long and 1.22 cm wide, and are oval in shape. Flower color is light pink with fragrance. The stamen is short, with one pistil, twice longer than the length of the stamen, and the ovary is hairy. Calyx is reddish brown with fuzzy hairs, 2 whorls and 10 petals, and the inner wall of the calyx tube is green. It is blooming very early. In Xuchang area of Henan province, buds appear on March 1st, with the first flowering period on March 5th, the peak flowering period in mid March, and the last flowering period in late March. The flowering period lasts for about 26 days, which is a long duration. There are few fruits. It has strong drought and cold resistance. It can safely overwinter when planted in the open field in Zhengzhou area, with a wide adaptability and strong stress resistance. It requires low cooling capacity and can be planted in areas where it can meet the cooling capacity of more than 300 hours.