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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Byron, Georgia » Fruit and Tree Nut Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #381001
Research Project: Development of New Stone Fruit Cultivars and Rootstocks for the Southeastern United States

Location: Fruit and Tree Nut Research

Title: Three New Peach Cultivars from the USDA

Author
item Chen, Chunxian

Submitted to: University of Georgia Peach Blog
Publication Type: Popular Publication
Publication Acceptance Date: 12/30/2020
Publication Date: 12/30/2020
Citation: Chen, C. 2020. Three New Peach Cultivars from the USDA. . 1.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: The USDA-ARS at Byron, GA has released three new peach cultivars named ‘Crimson Joy’ (early mid-season), ‘Liberty Joy’ (mid-season) and ‘Rich Joy’ (late season). ‘Crimson Joy’ requires ~700 chill hours (CH) and typically ripens approximately with ‘Harvester’ and ‘Redhaven’ and about a week after ‘GaLa’ in mid to late June at Byron. The fruit are redder, more attractive, and firmer than the three cultivars in the similar harvest window. ‘Liberty Joy’ requires ~650 CH, ripens in late June to early July at Byron, and is a reliable lower-chill alternative to ‘Fireprince’, ‘Blazeprince’, ‘Scarletprince’ and ‘Redglobe’, some current commercial cultivars in the harvest window that all require ˜850 CH and do not crop well when chilling accumulation is insufficient. ‘Rich Joy’ requires ~850 CH and typically ripens about a week after ‘Julyprince’ and approximately 2 weeks before ‘Flameprince’ at Byron, which can fill the harvest gap between the two cultivars. At maturity, ‘Rich Joy’ fruit have high percentage of bright red blush, making it more attractive and preferable to older, less blushed ‘Cresthaven’ and ‘Early Augustprince’, which are in the same harvest window. The freestone fruit develop excellent melting texture and pleasant rich flavor, and soften slowly on the tree as they ripen, allowing them to be picked over a relatively longer period compared to other typical melting cultivars. The cultivars all have self-fertile showy pink flowers and crop well most years. They all produce round, large, firm, melting and freestone fruit with high blush, yellow flesh, normal acidity and pleasant eating quality. All the three new cultivars are suited for trials in areas with medium to high chilling accumulation. Prospective licensees and requesters for the materials may contact USDA, ARS, Office of Technology Transfer at 5601 Sunnyside Ave, Room 4-1192, Beltsville, Maryland, 20705-5131, USA or via license@usda.gov.