Characteristics of an early maturing line derived from ‘Tone-Wase’ persimmon in Nara

‘Tone-Wase’, one of the famous astringent persimmon (Diospyros kaki Thunb) cultivars, is widely cultivated for commercial production in Nara Prefecture of Japan. With the increase of ‘Tone-Wase’ production, intensity of its harvesting becomes problems. One of the ways to cope with this situation may be the use of the early maturing line that was found among nursery plants of ‘Tone-Wase’ at a commercial production field in Nara and that was named ‘Uehira-Wase’. In this study, we investigated whether the use of this early maturing line could contribute to the extension of harvesting period in commercial production fields. From 2017 to 2019, almost all the fruits collected from the early maturing line could be harvested during September, while the harvesting period of ‘Tone-Wase’ was from the middle of September to the middle of October. The yield of the early maturing line was lower than that of ‘Tone-Wase’. The average fruit weight of the early maturing line was less than 200 g, while that of ‘Tone-Wase’ was more than 220 g. These results indicate that the introduction of this early maturing line may be useful for prolonging the harvesting period in Nara, though yield reduction and avoiding heavy fruit load must be considered.