A NEW SOURCE OF PEACH GERMPLASM CONTAINING SEMI-FREESTONE NONMELTING FLESH TYPES

A freestone, nonmelting flesh peach would offer the opportunity to tra nsport freestone peaches to distant markets, and so open lucrative exp ort opportunities. Peach [Prunus persica (L.) Batsch.] germplasm segre gating for semi-freestone and clingstone has been identified among the nonmelting flesh, open-pollinated progeny of the Univ. of Florida sel ection, Fla. 9-20C. The segregation approached a 1 : 1 ratio. No signi ficant differences were detected between the two categories for titrat able acidity, soluble solids concentration, or skin color. However, th e semi-freestone progeny had significantly softer flesh than their cli ngstone siblings, although not soft enough to justify reclassification of the flesh texture. No simple genetic model fan be proposed for the inheritance of this new phenotype. The semi-freestone, nonmelting ger mplasm represents a step towards a less perishable, freestone cultivar for the fresh market, as well as an opportunity to study the reason f or the rarity of the freestone/nonmelting phenotype among peaches.