Growth Performance Of Some New Apple Cultivars In Longdong Region

In recent years, the production of apple has made remarkable achievements in Gansu Longdong region because of the favorable natural conditions. But there are still some problems restricting the development of the apple industry, such as the unreasonable layout and structure of apple varieties. In order to screening proper apple cultivars in Gansu Longdong region, 18 apple cultivars were used to investigate the growth and fruit performance. The plant growth and development as well as fruit quality of all cultivars were analyzed at GanSu apple experimental station from 2015 to 2016. Main conclusions are listed as followed:1. In terms of growth and fruiting characteristics. ‘Cameo’ and ‘Envy’ have the most robust growth potential, strong branching ability and easy to flower, followed by several Fuji and ‘Ruiyang’, ‘Ruixue’; The biomass of ‘Gale Gala’ and ‘Jinshiji’ is relatively lower, but they have higher proportion of middle and short spurs. ‘Granny Smith’, ‘RuiYang’, ‘Ruixue’and ‘5C2-39’ have the highest yield.2. In terms of fruit quality,the quality of the two Middle maturity varieties that ‘Gale gala’ and ‘Jinshiji’ is similar, the taste of ‘Gale gala’ is acid. The Mid-late maturity varieties that‘Ryoka’ shows smooth surface, red color easily filled and high soluble solids content.The mature period of ‘Huahong’ is later, the fruits’ size is larger, fruit color and shape index are the best, the succulent is crisp and sweet smell, and composite quality is better. ‘Ruiyang’and ‘Ruixue’ belong to the Late maturity varieties. ‘Ruiyang’ has the quality of large fruit with bright red color, crisp and juicy texture, rich flavor and good storability. ‘Ruixue’ has high piles of fruit, fruits’ surface is clean, its succulent is hard and crisp, and it has the special smell and excellent quality.3. In storability, considering the content of soluble solid, titratable acid and fruit firmness, the storability of ‘Ruixue’ is significantly better than the other varieties. ‘Ruixue’can be stored for 6 months at 0℃ storage conditions. During the Spring Festival, the fresh taste is excellent; ‘Ruiyang’ reaches the optimum edible period at 80 days after the harvest.To sum up, considering three aspects of the growth habit, fruit quality and storability, the field management and the cost, the new middle maturity apple variety suitable for the Gansu Longdong area is ‘Jinshiji’; the new mid-late maturity varieties are ‘Ryoka’, ‘Huahong’ and‘5C2-39’; the new late ripening apple varieties are ‘Ruiyang’, ‘Ruixue’ and ‘Shan Fu No.6’.