Physiological and Taxonomical Studies on Some Peach Cultivars

This study was conducted during two successive seasons 2003 and 2004 by using twelve peach cultivars whether importedlow chill or originated as strains of local cultivar Meet Ghamr. Studied cultivars were either early-season ones (namely, Robin, Rubidoux, and Spring Time) or mid-season cultivars (namely, Florida Red, Fla 16/33, Fla 3/2, Desert Red, Bemto, and Hagazy) or late-season cultivars (namely, Shamy, Soltani and Tejon). All used cultivars were grafted on Nemaguerd rootstock and grown under similar cultural practices and climatic conditions in El-Noubaria Province, El-Behera governorate. This part of the research aimed at evaluating the fruit characteristics (physical and chemical), vegetative characteristics such as shoot length and trunk cross sectional area, and the nutritional status of some macro-nutrients (N, P, K, Ca, Mg) and some micro-nutrients (Fe, Zn, Mn, Cu) in order to identify their quality criteria needed to fulfill the requirements of export and local markets (such as fruit weight, diameter, flesh weight, fruit firmness, and color intensity). The results revealed that fruits of the cultivar Fla 16/32 was superior as compared with the other studied cultivars since it compromised the desired quality attributes. The local cultivars Hagazy and Sultani were superior in most physical characteristics but need further color enhancement (anthocyanin intensity). On the other hand, J.Agric.&Env.Sci.Alex.Univ.,Egypt Vol.6 (1)2007 197 well-colored fruits such as those of Spring Time, Desert Red, and Fla 3/2 need cultural practices that improve their weight, diameter, and hence size to meet the requirements for export especially after adopting them by peach producers in Egypt.