Breeding report of a new pear cultivar Jimei

Jimei is a new mid-late ripening pear cultivar with excellent appearance and compact tree structure. The seeding was derived from a cross between Huangguan and Zhongai No. 1 in 2006 at the experimental field. It was initially selected in 2010 for its bright color and good quality, including a rich flavor, a smooth peel, a reddish blush on the sun-exposed side and a compact tree structure. After five years of consistent observations, it was finally selected as a preliminary elite strain in 2015. After regional adaptability testing at three sites (including Shijiazhuang, Handan, and Xingtai) from 2016 to 2023, this strain demonstrated stable genetic traits and excellent cultivation performance. It was finally selected in 2023. Trees of Jimei have a compact tree structure with a semi-spreading posture and a small canopy. The annual branches are also gray-brown, with small and dense lenticels, and internodes length of 3.12 cm. It has a moderate budbreak ratio and strong branching ability. The leaf shape is elliptic and acuminate, 10.0 cm long, 5.30 cm wide, and sharply serrated. The diameter of flower crown is 2.3 cm, and the corolla is white with 5-7 petals, 1.38 cm long, and 0.87 cm wide. Most flowers have 5 to 7 petals, with light pink buds and purple- red anthers. Each cluster contains 5 to 8 flowers. The fruits are large and the average fruit mass is 260 g. It has an average longitudinal diameter of 8.29 cm and a transverse diameter of 7.95 cm, and fruit shape index is 1.04. The fruits are long globose with light yellowgreen background and more than 25%-45% surface area covered with red color when mature. The fruit has a soluble solids content of 13.1% , a soluble sugar content of 9.26% , a titratable acid content of 0.11%, and a vitamin C content of 4.42 mg·100 g-1 . Flesh hardness is 6.32 kg· cm-2 . The flesh is white, fine, and crispy. It has suitable acid and sweet flavor. Quality is excellent. The tree begins to bear fruit early, usually within 2 to 3 years after planting under normal management conditions. It primarily produces long fruit branches. Under natural pollination conditions, the average number of fruit set per cluster is 4.33. The fruit development period is 150 d and it matures in early September in Shijiazhuang area. The fruit has very long storage life, cold storage life is 4 months and shelf life is over 10 days. After storage the fruit aroma is quite strong. Suitable cultivation area is in Shijiazhuang, Xingtai, Handan and other pear producing areas with similar ecological conditions in China. The tree is dwarf, and it is suitable for close planting. The density of planting would be (0.75-2.50) m×(3.0-4.0) m. Xuehua, Yali and Huangguan pears are the most suitable pollination trees for it, and the configuration of the pollinizer is (4-5)∶1. Single-layer white waxed paper bags are recommended for bagging. Fertilization should primarily focus on applying base fertilizer in autumn, with high-quality organic fertilizer combined with an appropriate amount of compound fertilizer applied after fruit harvest. Water management should follow the principle of ensuring adequate supply in the early stages and controlling it in the later stages.