Abstract: Shihezaoxiangmi peach is an early maturing variation found in local traditional cultivar Shiheshuimi. In the early 21st century, during the investigation of peach germplasm resources in Anhui Province, an early maturing individual plant was discovered by the research group in Shihe village, Shexian County, Huangshan City. Through high grafting identification experiments, variety comparison experiments and regional cultivation experiments, the peach showed the stable characteristics—early maturity, rich sweet, juicy and fragrant. It was authorized by the Crop variety Identification Committee of Anhui Horticultural Society and officially named as Shihezaoxiangmi in December 2023. Shihezaoxiangmi cultivar has strong growth potential and opening more branches. The fruit shape of Shihezaoxiangmi is elliptic, the suture line is shallow, and the two halves are relatively symmetrical. The fruit shape index is 0.93 (average longitudinal diameter is 7.41 cm, average transverse diameter is 7.94 cm). The average fruit weight is 275.0 g, maximum fruit weight is 345.0 g. The fruit apex is round flat and slightly concave. The background color of fruit is milky yellow, and the top sunny side is covered with rose red. After bagging, the background color changes milky white, and the skin is milky yellow. The flesh is milky white, easy to peel, rich and sweet flavor, less fiber, more juice, soft solute. The flesh near the stone is rosy; the content of soluble acid is 0.38%; the content of soluble solid is 12.5%. The cultivar offers exceptional fruit quality, but it is not able to store and transport for the soft solute characteristic. So it is suitable for planting in tourist areas or leisure sightseeing picking gardens. In Huangshan area, the flowering period of Shihezaoxiangmi is in late March to early April. The fruit ripens in early to middle of July, and the fruit development period is about 100 days. The deciduous period is mid to late October, and the growth period is about 210 days. Shihezaoxiangmi is an early and middle ripening variety with strong cold tolerance and drought tolerance, but weak waterlogging tolerance, and strong resistance to anthracnose, bacterial piercing disease and peach scab. The variety has high self-fruitful ability, good flower-forming capacity, and the flower bud has no obvious freezing damage, the fruit setting rate is high, the fruit can be bagged or not bagged, the cracked fruit is less, the physiological fall of fruit before picking is light, and the yield is stable. The average plant yield of 4-year old (spacing in the rows and spacing between rows are 3 m×4 m) can reach 25.0 kg, and the yield can reach 1400 kg·666.7 m-2. Shihezaoxiangmi is suitable for regional cultivation in Anhui province.
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