Detailed Introduction to the Large-Fruited Sweet Carambola No. 3 Variety

Approval number: Gui Shen Guo 2007004

Variety name: Large-Fruited Sweet Carambola No. 3

Breeding unit: Horticulture Research Institute, Guangxi Academy of Agricultural Sciences

Variety source: selected from bud-sport single plants of Malaysian B17 introduced from Hawaii.

Characteristics: branches spreading, tree vigor relatively weak, small branches numerous and dense, soft and drooping. Leaves are odd-pinnate compound leaves, alternate; number of leaflets 7-13, mostly 11, alternate or opposite, 4 cm-9 cm long, 2 cm-5 cm wide; leaflet blades asymmetrical, with one side of the base broad and bluntly rounded, and the other side of the base narrow and oblique. Flowers are racemes, axillary, 2-3 cm long, with more than ten to several dozen flowers per inflorescence. Flowers small, about 8 mm long, corolla diameter about 4 mm, bell-shaped, petals 5, pale white-purplish red, fragrant; stamens 10, the outer whorl of 5 short and undeveloped, lacking anthers, only the inner whorl of 5 having pollen; pistil 1, ovary superior, with 5 locules, each locule with 1-3 seeds. Fruit is a fleshy berry, long spindle-shaped, with thin ribs and a prominent tip, generally 5-ribbed, pentagram-shaped in cross section. Peel thin and smooth; unripe fruit green, yellow when ripe, with the rib edges clearly green. Average single fruit weight 180 g, soluble solids in the flesh 9.0%-14.5%, total organic acid content 0.18%-0.35%.

When planted in southern Guangxi, there are 3-4 flowering and fruiting periods each year: flowering from mid-to-late May to early June, fruit ripening from mid-to-late August to early September; flowering from mid-to-late July to mid-August, fruit ripening from mid-October to early November; flowering from late October to mid-November, harvest from mid-January to late February of the following year.

Yield performance: planted in the same year, it flowers and sets fruit in the same year; in the second year it can enter formal production, with yield per plant reaching 10 kg; in the third year yield per plant reaches 25 kg; in the fourth year it can enter the full production period, with yield per plant reaching more than 36 kg.

Key points of cultivation techniques: refer to Large-Fruited Sweet Carambola No. 1

Approval opinion: after review, this variety has considerable application value in production and has passed approval; it can be planted according to local conditions in southern Guangxi and southeastern Guangxi.