New high-yield peach introduced
DAVIS, CA – Summer is peach season, and soon consumers will be flocking to roadside stands and farmers markets to purchase these fresh, juicy, candy-sweet fruits for cobblers or simply enjoying right out of hand.
Almost all of the fresh peaches available to consumers are freestone, named because the fruit separates easily from the stone, or pit. Clingstone, or “cling” peaches attach, or “cling” more to the pit. Because they retain their flavor and quality through processing, clingstone peaches are the type most often used for commercial canning.
To address the need for high-yield, improved-quality peaches for use by commercial fruit canners, University of California at Davis Professor Thomas Gradziel and his colleagues in the Department of Plant Sciences and Department of Food Science have introduced a new cultivar of clingstone peach called ‘Lilleland’.
In an article published in the April 2008 issue of HortScience, Gradziel notes: “Since its introduction in 1921, ‘Halford’ has become one of the most extensively planted processing peach cultivars in California. However, high temperatures during fruit development often promote a red anthocyanin staining of the fruit pit cavity and an increase in pit fragments that remain in the fruit after processing. The red anthocyanins turn brown when heat-processed, staining both the processed fruit and syrup. Both stained and fragment-containing fruit need to be sorted out, which can greatly reduce final processed fruit case yields.” According to Gradziel, ‘Lilleland’ was developed as a replacement for ‘Halford’.
Gradziel noted that ‘Lilleland’ is characterized by a small pit, no undesirable fruit pit staining, and reduced incidence of pit fragments in the processed fruit, adding; “In long-term commercial evaluations, ‘Lilleland’ peaches have demonstrated good firmness, color, shape, and productivity.” The patented peach was named in honor of the late Professor Ormund Lilleland of UC Davis, who was responsible for many of the initial plant nutrient studies for processing peaches.
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The complete study and abstract are available on the ASHS HortScience electronic journal web site: http://hortsci.ashspublications.org/cgi/content/abstract/43/2/542
Founded in 1903, the American Society for Horticultural Science (ASHS) is the largest organization dedicated to advancing all facets of horticultural research, education, and application. More information at ashs.org.
This press release also available on EurekAlert!
Original Article:
‘Lilleland’ Peach: A High Case-yield Processing Clingstone Peach for the ‘Halford’ Maturity Period
Thomas M. Gradziel, Mary Ann Thorpe, and Diane M. Barrett
HortScience Apr 1 2008: 542–543. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
Corresponding author. E-mail tmgradziel@ucdavis.edu
