Peach Bud Sports 



At the same time in 1944 that crosses were made between Oriole and P.I. 

 iNo. 104315 peach from North Caucasus, pollen of the latter kind was applied 

 to emasculated flowers of the Eclipse variety. In 1949, one first-generation 

 tree that had resulted from Eclipse x North Caucasus bore several yellow 

 peaches among the white-fleshed fruits typical of this seedling. Close watch 

 was kept on the tree in 1950 and the small branch that bore yellow peaches 

 was identified and labeled. When cut. the yellow peaches were found to 

 have yellow flesh on the outside and white flesh near the pit with distribution 

 of the two colors being irregular. Following careful pruning to encourage 

 growth of the branch, in 1951 it bore 83 peaches. When cut. 23 fruits showed 

 part white and part yellow flesh. Sixty had yellow flesh except for a white 

 streak extending from the skin to the pit at the suture line. No fruits had 

 completely yellow color. In 1953. 100 peaches from the sporting branch 

 were examined. Eleven had a combination of yellow and white flesh distri- 

 buted in an irregular pattern: the rest were yellow except for the white 

 suture. A single tree propagated from the sporting branch had all fruits of 

 the latter tjqae. Since this yeliow-white peach flesh chimera had mainly aca- 

 demic interest* and the fruits lacked commercial size, it has not been 

 propagated further. 



Two separate bud sports were found also on a seedling tree of Oriole x 

 North Caucasus parentage. These sports were both nectarines and they had 

 white flesh color similar to the peaches borne by the first-generation tree. 

 One nectarine sport occurred as a small branch bearing three fruits on one 

 side of the peach tree; the other showed up as a single-fruited spur on a 

 large branch on the opposite side of the same tree. Though the flavor and 

 quality of the nectarines was good, they lacked sufficient size for propagation 

 as commercial varieties. The several sports noted among this small progeny 

 of first-generation trees does indicate that bud sports happen commonly and 

 that careful and close observation of peach seedlings in a breeding program 

 might even yield some bud sports worthy of commercial propagation. Most 

 known commercially propagated bud sports of the peach have been selected 

 from orchards planted to named varieties. 



Other Peach Breeding 



As mentioned in New Hampshire Station Bulletin No. 383. a shortcut has 

 been found in breeding peaches so that only those seedlings destined to 

 have yellow fruits need be saved from a progeny known to be segregating 

 for white-fleshed and yellow fruits. This discovery made in the spring of 

 1949 has greatly reduced the number of seedlings it is necessary to fruit 

 in the field. Before the seedlings emerge from the soil they will be white or 

 yellowish color corresponding to the flesh color of the fruit which they will 

 produce when the trees have been grown to fruiting age. Since 1949, in the 

 backcrosses that have been made between the first generation hybrids of 



* A. F. Yeager and E. M. Meacler. "A Flesh-Color Chimera in the Peach". Journal 

 of Heredity. Washington. D. C. Vol. XLVii:77-78. 19S6. 



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