THE NON-MELTING SEMI-FREESTONE PEACH

Since the unconfirmed report by Blake nearly 60 years ago, the combina tion of non-melting flesh with the freestone trait in peach has been a long sought goal of breeders. Non-melting flesh, semi-freestone peach selections were found in 1992 and confirmed on budded trees fruiting in 1995. These unique phenotypes are segregants from two sources: Fla. 9-20C and Fla. 9-26C. Crosses of open-pollinated selections from both sources with 'Oro A' have also produced non-melting semi-freestone se lections. Test crosses are in progress to determine the specific genot ypes of these selections and that of their progenitors. At this time w e assume their genotype to be non-melting freestone (F_mm) which would be consistent with the original hypothesis of 2 genes. each with 2 al leles.