Detail about cultivation practices of peach and plum

1. 1

2. CULTIVATION
of
PEACH & PLUM
Mr. Pawan Kumar Nagar
M.Sc. (Hort.) student
Fruit Science,
AAU, Anand.
2

3. Peach
Scientific classification
F.N : Primus persica
Kingdom: Plantae
Order: Rosales
Family: Rosaceae
Genus: Prunus
Subgenus: Amygdalus
Species: P.persica

4. FLOWERING :
 The peach flower is termed perigynous.
 The receptacle is cup-shaped
and encloses the ovary.
 The air space between the receptacle
and ovary is thought to provide some
insulation during spring frosts.
 Following bloom, the cup-like receptacle
dries and is called the shuck, which
splits and falls off as the fruit grows.
Diagram of a peach flower.

5. FLOWER BUDS :
 The flower buds of peach develop in leaf axils on current
season's growth.
 These buds will bear the following season's fruit. The terminal
bud on a peach shoot is vegetative.
 Flower buds on peach trees are said to be "simple" or "pure," as
they contain only flower tissue, which contrasts with the
apple's mixed buds from which both flower and leaf tissues
arise.
 In the peach, one flower comes from each bud.
 In winter, examination of a peach shoot about 1-1/2 feet in
length reveals several bud arrangements . Near the upper end,
single buds (one at a node) of two types predominate. There are
single, small, pointed vegetative buds, and the somewhat larger,
rounder, more pubescent (hairy) flower buds. In the lower two
thirds of the shoot, many of the nodes have three buds arranged
side by side.
 The two outer flower buds are larger and rounder; the center
leaf bud is frequently very inconspicuous, small, and pointed.
Arrangement of
flower and
vegetative buds on
a peach shoot

6. Breeding objective of PEACH :
 The main objective of peach (Primus persica) improvement for
low chilling areas would be to develop cultivars with low
chilling requirement.
 Recent investigations in peach breeding are concerned less with the inheritance
of qualitative characters and more with an understanding of the transmission of
quantitative traits.
 Extension of season of maturity remains an important objective in many breeding
programs.
 Tolerance to high summer temperature.
 Maturity between 60 and 70 days after full bloom,
 firm flesh, freedom from loose fiber, attractive colour,
 Non browning of flesh, resistance to root-knot nematode, iron
chlorosis and water logging.
 For processing peaches, firmness of flesh, freedom from loose
fiber, attractive colour and non-browning of flesh are the
important characters to be improved.

7. Ideal Characteristic of Peach :
 The peach tree, Prunus persica, is a deciduous tree.
 Prunus persica grows to 4–10 m (13–33 ft) tall and 6 in. in
diameter.
 The leaves are lanceolate, 7–16 cm (2.8–6.3 in) long, 2–3 cm
(0.79–1.2 in)
broad, pinnately veined.
 The flowers are produced in early spring before the leaves;
 They are solitary or paired, 2.5–3 cm diameter, pink, with five
petals.
 The fruit has yellow or whitish flesh, a delicate aroma, and a
skin that is either velvety (peaches) or smooth (nectarines)
in different cultivars.
 The flesh is very delicate and easily bruised in some cultivars,
but is fairly firm in some commercial varieties, especially
when green.
 The single, large seed is red-brown, oval shaped,
approximately 1.3–2 cm long, and is surrounded by a wood-
like husk.
 Peaches, along with cherries, plums and apricots, are stone
fruits (drupes).
 There are various heirloom varieties, including the Indian
peach, which arrives in the latter part of the summer.

8. Breeding Method of PEACH :
 Introduction and selection :
 A large number of low chilling peach varieties, e.g. Floradasun, Sun Red and Sun
Gold and some other selections,
 Floradared and Flordabelle were introduced at the PAU, Ludhiana, during late
sixties from Florida and California states in USA.
 Of these introductions, Flordasun, Flordared, Sun Red and 16-33 (named Shan-I-
Punjab) became very popular. Of the later introductions from USA, TA 170, known
as 'Partap', has been identified as early (7 days earlier than Flordasun).
 Its flesh is yellow, firm, with red colouration and better keeping quality. Another
two introductions from Florida, Flordaprince and Earligrande, have been
recommended for commercial cultivation for the plains of Punjab and adjoining
areas.
 Flordaprince is an early ripening, whereas Earligrande is a mid-season variety.
 Clonal selection
 'Sharbati' is a chance seedling selected at Saharanpur.

9.  Hybridization
 Redhar is a cross between ‘Halehaven’ and ‘Kalhaven bred’ at USA.
 Interspecific hybrdization has been also attempted in peaches especially in
the development of rootstock resistant to nematodes.
 Nemagcrad, a hybrid between P.persica x P.davididasa is a widely used
root-knot nematode resistant rootstock, which is immune to Meloidogyne
incognita.
 Planned hybridization work on peach was started in 1957 at Saharanpur.
Peach Saharanpur Prabhat (Sharbati x Flordasun) was released.
 Fruits of this variety are attractive, sweet, maturing at least 4 days earlier
than Flordasun.

10. Approach for crop improvement of Peach :
 Development of Peach Molecular marker & their use for finger
print & for the evaluation of Genetic resources.
 The morden peach cultivar should be propagated through
Vegetative propagation.
 Many Prunus microsatellites have been developed in Peach.
 Many of them were tested for their usefulness to fingerprint
Peach varieties.
 Several sets of Prunus microsatellite markers were chosen and
proven to be highly effectives for this purpose.
 Single nucleotide polymorphism also development progress in
peach .

11. Peach Germplasm Collection :
 5 species & 16 varieties were identified within a genus Prunus.
 3 national germplasm of peach identified in Beijing,
Zhengzhou and Nanjing.
 Peach germplasm collection occurred in Shanghai,Dalian and
Shanxi.
 More than 1000 germplasm accessions have been collected
and maintained to safeguard again genetic erosion.
 A number of foreign cultivars were introduced to china.
 Screening and evolution effects at the repositories have
resulted in a marketed increase in the understanding of special
genotypes and the effect use of genotypes.

12. Germplasm collection & center of peach & plum in india
 There are over 400 to 430 species in the genus Prunus, but
only 89 are listed in the Genetic Resource Information System
(Willis, 1948; Anonymous, 1969; Bailey and Bailey, 1976; Ghora
and Panigrahi, 1984).
 In India, about 36 Prunus species have been reported so far
and 18 species are useful for cultivation for different purposes
(Santapau and Henry, 1973; Ghora and Panigrahi, 1984;
Pandey et al., 2008).
In India, a rich diversity of seedling population of peach & plum
landraces is also found in Kashmir (J&K) and Kinnaur
(Himachal Pardesh).

13. Bio-Technology including to Peach :
 Micro propagation
Regeneration
 Somaclonal variation and selection in-vitro
 Transformation
 Enzyme and molecular marker

14. Plum
Scientific classification
F.M : Prunus domestica
Kingdom: Plantae
Order: Rosales
Family: Rosaceae
Subfamily: Maloideae or Spiraeoideae
Genus: Prunus
Subgenus: Prunus

15. Plum species:
1. European plums -
Prunus domestica L. Worldwide, this is one of the main species
grown.
Fruit are generally oval, smaller, and more variable in color than
Japanese plums.
 In the USA, P. domestica is used for prunes or fruit cocktail or
other products, and rarely eaten fresh.
2. Japanese plums -
P. salicina Lindl. and hybrids.
These are the most common fresh eating plums in the USA.
They are larger, rounder (or heart shaped), and firmer than
European plums and are primarily grown for fresh market.

16. Flowers :
 Flowers are similar in morphology
to peach, but white, smaller, and
have longer pedicels.
 Flowers are borne mostly in
umbel-like clusters of 2-3
individuals on short spurs, and
solitary or 2-3 in axils of 1-yr-old
wood.
 European plums bloom much later
than Japanese types, and are
therefore less frost prone.
flower structure of European plum
flower structure of Japanese plum

17. Ideal Characteristic of Plum :
 A plum is a stone fruit tree in the genus Prunus, subgenus Prunus.
 The subgenus is distinguished from other subgenera
(peaches, cherries, bird cherries, etc.) in the shoots having a
terminal bud and solitary side buds .
 The flowers in groups of one to five together on short stems, and the
fruit having a groove running down one side and a
smooth stone (or pit).
 Mature plum fruit may have a dusty-white coating that gives them
a glaucous appearance; this is easily rubbed off.
 Dried plum fruits are called dried plums or prunes, although prunes are
a distinct type of plum, and may have antedated the fruits now
commonly known as plums.
 Grafted plum trees are capable of bearing large crops from 1 year after
planting.
 They make delightful ornamental trees due to their mass display of
white blossoms during August.
 Both self-pollinating and cross-pollinating varieties are available and
exhibit very different characteristics.

18. Breeding objectives of plum
The main objective of plum is….
 Improvement programmer for subtropical regions are the
early maturity cultivar with low chilling requirement.
 Tolerant to high temperature and drafting root stocks tolerant
to saline.
 Large fruited, free stone, juice with proper TSS/Acid ratio.
 suitable for processing and resistant /tolerant to insect, pest &
disease.
 Salable fruit of plum must be attractive in colour, adequate size
& acceptable flavor and texture.

19. Breeding Method of Plum
 Introduction & Selection :
 A large number of plum varieties have been introduced from
different countries.
 Of these, Santa Rosa, Sutlej Purple are important commercial
cultivars found suitable for mid hills of North Western
Himalayas.
 Other methods of breeding are not yet followed in this crop in
India.

20. Pollination of plum :
• Many plum varietes are self-fertile or partially self-fertile and
do not need a pollination partner.
• For plum varieties that are not self-fertile, another plum tree of
a different variety flowering at the same time is usually all that
is necessary to ensure good pollination and heavy crops - there
are few of the pollination incompatibilities found with apples,
pears and cherries.

21.  European plums have a much better and more interesting
range of flavours than the 'Japanese' plums usually found in
supermarkets.
 Most garden plum trees in Northern Europe are of this
species, and they are well suited to temperate climates, being
hardier than the Japanese varieties and flowering later.
 Whilst European plums do not store particularly well, the fruit
usually ripens over a 1-2 week period, during which time the
tree can be picked daily to ensure a steady supply of fruit.

22. Germplasm collection of Plum :
 Plum germplasm consist primarily of local selection and
cultivars, plus a small amount of wild accessions.
 Because most of the plum breeding programs are for cultiver
development and use primarily adopted, improved parents, it
is little evolution of wild peach germplasm.
 P.salicina, major collection from China.
 Several European institutions have large collection of
European Plum .
 Most of the wild germplasm of plum have been collected form
National Clonal Gemplasm Repository,Davis ,California,
U.S.A