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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Kearneysville, West Virginia » Appalachian Fruit Research Laboratory » Innovative Fruit Production, Improvement, and Protection » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #396026
Research Project: Improving Fruit Crop Traits Through Advanced Genomic, Breeding, and Management Technologies

Location: Innovative Fruit Production, Improvement, and Protection

Title: Notice to fruit growers and nursery growers of release of the pear tree 'Bell'

Author
item Dardick, Christopher - Chris
item Demuth, Mark
item BELL, RICHARD - Retired ARS Employee
item SCHUPP, JAMES - Pennsylvania State University
item Gottschalk, Christopher

Submitted to: Germplasm Release
Publication Type: Other
Publication Acceptance Date: 2/2/2022
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: The U.S. Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service and the Penn State Research and Extension Center announce the release of ‘Bell’ pear. The purpose of the release is to provide an early season fire blight resistant pear for the mid-Atlantic and other pear growing areas. ‘Bell’ has superior fire-blight resistance when compared with European varieties that are fire blight susceptible. Fire blight is especially dangerous to vigorous trees, thus eastern pear orchards in the Mid-Atlantic growing regions tend to be older trees that are managed for low vigor, resulting in low productivity and small fruit size. ‘Bell’ is resistant to fire-blight with good production traits and harvest timing similar to ‘Bartlett’, a proven industry standard for pears. In addition to its high production value, ‘Bell’ pears have intense flavor and sweetness that is well suited to fresh market production in the early season where taste, texture, and juiciness are the most important traits for consumer appeal.