Comparative estimation of peach hybrid offspring in the Crimean steppe area

The hybrid fund Prunus persica (L.) Batsch, created on the basis of domestic and foreign cultivars was investigated in the Steppe Branch NBG-NSC. The aim of the research was to identify winter-hardy peach hybrids with high yield and good fruit quality (size, appearance and taste) for further study and transfer to the state cultivar trial. Hybrid seedlings were obtained by interspecies and intra-species crossing using classical breeding techniques. In total 2010 seedlings of 29 hybrid families of F₁, F₂ and F₃ generations were analyzed. Results of researches revealed the most potentially productive hybrid F₂ families of combination 'Veteran' open pollination × F₂ '2151', 'Ak Sheftalyu' open pollination, 'Oranzhevyiy' self-pollination, 'Gurzufskiy' × F₁ '26-76'. Hybrid seedlings 'Tourist' × F₂ '2151', 'Dvoynik' × F₂ '26-76' and 'Zolotaya Moskva' × F₁ '2130' with the average grade yield of 2.0-2.5 points proved to be the most fruitful. The average scores of the fruit quality with more than 4 points on a 5-point scale got some F₁ hybrid families such as 'Zolotaya Moskva' × 'Vedetta', 'Valiant' × 'Tovarisch', 'Dakota' × 'Tovarisch', 'Moskvich' × 'Gvardeyskiy Zheltyiy', 'Rot Front' × 'Gvardeyskiy Zheltyiy', etc. Thus, 28 of hybrids characterized by high productivity, and attractive, large fruits of excellent taste and good quality were selected.