Inheritance of flesh texture in peach and effects of ethylene treatment on softening of the stony hard peach

Abstract

Flesh texture of peach (Prunus persica Batsch) was classified into melting and non-melting, while in 1976, the stony hard variety was reported as a third type. However, the fruit ripening characteristics and inheritance of stony hard trait remained unclear. The fruit of melting and non-melting cultivars showed increased ethylene production and softer flesh, although their degrees differed. Conversely, the stony hard texture was characterized by the absence of both ethylene production and postharvest softening in mature fruit, while the firmness of the stony hard peach decreased effectively with continuous ethylene treatment. Treatment of the stony hard peach with 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid (ACC), which is the immediate precursor to ethylene, softened the fruit and rapidly induced ethylene production. The genetic separation of the flesh texture characteristics in F1 and F2 offspring from the cross of non-melting and stony hard cultivars indicated that the stony hard trait was controlled by a single gene, and inherited independently of melting flesh/non-melting flesh traits. The stony hard peach is expected to be used as a genetic source to enhance the preservability of the table peach.