Trends in Stone Fruit Cultivar Development

Abstract

<jats:p>Despite the hundreds of existing stone fruit (<jats:italic>Prunus</jats:italic> spp.) cultivars used for fresh market, there is a continuing need to develop new stone fruit cultivars as the requirements of the industry change. Over the last 20 years there has been a shift toward private breeding as the public sector decreases its support of these long-range programs. As a result there are fewer public breeding programs and many of those still operating protect their releases and partially fund their programs with royalty payments. Other trends that are shaping the development of new stone fruit cultivars are a need for smaller or more easily managed tree architecture, a trend toward the use of fewer agricultural chemicals, the expansion of production zones into the milder winter zones to allow year-round availability of stone fruit, a general diversification of fruit types being marketed, the increased awareness of the health benefits of fruit consumption, the need for better and more consistent quality, and given the global marketing of these fruit the increased need for enhanced postharvest qualities. The breeding programs of the world are responding to these trends and working toward developing the cultivars for the world markets of the future.</jats:p>

Metabolic profiling of a range of peach fruit varieties reveals high metabolic diversity and commonalities and differences during ripening

“…Peach represents a particular model fruit in terms of physiology, anatomy and metabolism, different from other model fruits, such as tomato, strawberry or grape; and with particular metabolic networks during development, which are related to its morphology (a drupe with seeds covered by a lignified endocarp and a juicy mesocarp; Lombardo et al, 2011). Within this general morphology, there is an extensive variability in flavours, textures, and sweetness/acidity ratios among the several hundreds of varieties that exist around the world (Byrne, 2005;Sansavini et al, 2006). Taking these facts into consideration, in the present work, we evaluated the variance in metabolite content of fifteen peach varieties grafted on the same rootstock, and with trees trained in a similar way, as it was shown that rootstock or training systems may influence phytochemical composition of the fruits (Orazem, Mikulic-Petkovsek, Stampar, & Hudina, 2013;Tavarini et al, 2011).…”

“…This high phenotypic diversity is the result of several peach breeding programmes in different countries that focus on the development of new varieties to satisfy diverse demands. Among others, these demands include a higher yield, the expansion of their production zones, disease resistance and the need for a better post-harvest quality of the fruit, this is especially critical given its short post-harvest lifespan (Byrne, 2005;Sansavini, Gamberini, & Bassi, 2006). The wide phenotypic variability of peach contrasts with a restricted genetic diversity, probably as a consequence of self-compatibility (Font i Forcada, Oraguzie, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.foodchem.2015.06.043 0308-8146/Ó 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.…”

Profiling diversity and comparison of Eastern and Western cultivars of Prunus persica based on phenotypic traits

“…Among the various goals, improving fruit quality has been an important issue because high fruit quality is a major factor for consumers in the fresh market (Bruhn 1995;Byrne 2005;Crisosto and Crisosto 2005;Byrne et al 2012). Like other fruit crops, the major traits determining peach and nectarine fruit quality are (1) visible quality such as size and skin appearances, (2) eating quality usually measured as soluble solids concentration (SSC) and acid content, and (3) texture quality such as firmness and juiciness (Predieri et al 2006;Byrne 2012).…”

Apricot

“…In the last 20 years, cultivar development by private breeding programs has increased with a corresponding decrease by publicly funded programs (Byrne 2005 ) . In Europe, the number of breeding programs specifi c to apricot and new varietal releases is much lower than those focused on other fruit species.…”