PROGRESS IN PEAR BREEDING AT THE UNIVERSITY OF BOLOGNA

The main goals of the University of Bologna pear breeding program initiated in 1978 are: (1) improvement in fruit quality and time of ripening; (2) red skin; (3) resistance to Cacopsylla pyri and Erwinia amylovora (fire blight); and (4) new flesh types. More than 150 advanced selections (S2) are under evaluation and some of these seem interesting in terms of their quality traits and harvest windows e.g. the selection 92051124-8 (Harvest Queen × Bartlett) has good quality and ripens at the end of July.