Biological and economic characteristics of new peach and hybrids in the steppe Crimea

Abstract

The main aim of the peach breeding program in the Steppe branch of Nikitsky Botanical Gardens developed in 1975 was to obtain new adapted cultivars, which combine most valuable biological and economic traits. Standard breeding techniques such as crossing, hand pollination, self-pollination and open pollination, were employed. Best foreign and domestic cultivars were used as parents. Mother cultivars were ‘Valiant’, ‘Veteran’, ‘Laureate’, ‘Red Haven’, ‘Santarine’, ‘Start’, and ‘9251’, fathers cultivars were: ‘Cardinal’, ‘Kudesnik’, ‘Miryanin’, ‘Sanrise’, ‘Favourite Morettiny’ and ‘Kievskiy Ranniy’. A large hybrid fund was created and studied. As a result distinguished peach hybrids were identified and selected. This paper focuses on some biological and economic features of 42 selected elite forms of 12 peach hybrid combinations of F1 and F2. They are characterized by high productivity, good quality of fruits and excellent taste. Some of these elite forms are superior to existing national standards by crop yield, winter hardiness, appearance and fruit quality. So they were registered as cultivars, such as: ‘Vavilovskiy’, ‘Demerdzhinskiy’, ‘Kandidatskiy’, ‘Posol Mira’, ‘Osvezhayuschiy’ and ‘Jubilejnyiy Ranniy’. Some biological and economic characteristics (fruit size, skin, colour and over colour, flesh firmness, taste of the fruit, yield, etc.) of these cultivars are presented.