Introduction to the characteristics of the new red-skinned pear variety Hongxiangsu

Hongxiangsu was bred in 1980 by the Zhengzhou Fruit Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences by crossing Korla fragrant pear (Pyrus sinkiangensis) with Zhengzhou goose pear. It fruited in 1986 and was selected as a superior line with the code 80-4-6. In October 1997 it passed crop variety approval in Henan Province and was named "Hongxiangsu". It overcomes the shortcomings of Korla fragrant pear, namely its small size and low sweetness, and has become the outstanding leader among today's red-skinned pears. In the spring of 1994 our orchard introduced some branches from the Zhengzhou Fruit Research Institute and top-grafted our 11-year-old Yali pears in batches, with a total of 308 trees top-grafted, over an area of 0.46 ha. The top-grafted trees fruited in the second year; in the third year the yield was 1150 kg per 666.7 sq m, and in the fourth year 2535 kg. They sell especially well in Guangzhou, Fuzhou and other places, and their reputation has already surpassed that of Korla fragrant pear.

1. Fruit economic traits The fruit is oval, with sepals falling off or persistent. The average fruit weight is 270 g, and the largest is 650 g. The fruit surface is clean and smooth, with a waxy bloom, medium-large fruit dots, and no russet spots. When ripe, the ground color is yellow-green and the overcolor is deep red, with more than 50% of the surface colored. After storage the ground color turns golden yellow and becomes even more brilliant. The flesh is white, crisp and juicy, with few stone cells and little residue, and a rich sweet aroma. It contains 14%-16% soluble solids, and the sugar-to-acid ratio is 95.78:1, giving excellent quality. The core is small, and the flesh near the core has no sour taste. At room temperature it can be stored for three months, and in a cold store it can be kept until the wheat harvest of the following year, still crisp and refreshingly tart.

2. Growth and fruiting habits The tree vigor is moderate, and the tree habit is upright. It fruits mainly on short spurs, the secondary shoots on the fruiting spur have a strong ability to bear fruit continuously, and it has the habit of fruiting on axillary flower buds. The flower buds are conical, each inflorescence has 8-10 flowers, the corolla is white and 4.5 cm in diameter, and the anthers are light purple. For top-grafted trees, the percentage of trees fruiting in the second year is over 95%, and in the third year the fruit set rate per inflorescence is as high as 92%. The fruit set rate per flower is 26%. It is highly resistant to pear scab and black spot, and slightly susceptible to ring rot.

3. Phenology In the Shijiazhuang area of Hebei, buds break in mid-to-late March, flowering begins in early April, full bloom is from April 11-15, and the flowering period lasts about one week. The fruit begins to color at the end of June and ripens in late September. The fruit development period is about 140 d, and leaves fall in early November.

4. Key cultivation techniques The planting spacing should preferably be 2 m x 4 m or 1.5 m x 4 m, and when the canopy becomes crowded, every other tree should be thinned out. It can serve as a pollinizer for Yali, Huangguan and others, and vice versa.

The tree form should preferably be a modified spindle. For young trees, except for heading back the central leader and scaffold branches, the rest should be trained by bending rather than pruning, to promote early and high yields. The spacing between fruits is 20 cm, and the leaf-to-fruit ratio is 30:1. The crop load should be controlled at about 2500 kg per 666.7 sq m.

In soil and fertilizer management, more organic fertilizer, phosphorus and potassium fertilizer, and trace-element fertilizer should be applied, and the clean cultivation system should be changed to a grass-cover system to increase fruit coloring.