Drought resistance of ornamental peach cultivars with a different origin

Ornamental peaches (Prunus spp.) with double flowers stand out by a showy flowering in early to middle spring.
As the result of breeding, a large diversity of cultivars and hybrids of these plants from different species has been obtained.
It is known that hybrids with wild species are characterized by delicate leaf blades and may be more sensitive to high summer temperatures, dry wind, and water deficit.
To identify cultivars adaptive to arid conditions of a summer period, a level of water content, a water deficit, and a degree of recovery of turgor after 24 h of wilting were determined in the leaves of 29 accessions of ornamental peach with origins including Prunus persica, P. mira, P. davidiana, P. kansuensis, and P. dulcis. During the period of maximum drought development in summer, the content of total water in the leaves of the accessions ranged between 41.9 and 76.8%. Within 4 h from wilting beginning the leaves lost between 3.7 to 26.7% water.
After 8 h, the moisture loss was between 7.5 and 33.4%. Twenty-four h later the leaves lost moisture between 19 and 48.7%. ‘Ruthenia’, ‘Vesna’, ‘Adalary v Snegu’, ‘Zhiselle’, ‘Lel’, ‘Fei Tao’, David-peach ‘Alba’, ‘Fleur Pompon’, ‘Decorativny Ryabova’ and ‘Belosnezhka’ lost only from 15.1 to 21.9% of water after 24 h of wilting and were characterized by the greatest water retention capacity.
The degree of recovery of turgor in leaf tissues of all the studied cultivars after 24 h of wilting ranged between 36.4 to 99.9%. The best water-retaining characteristics during the summer moisture deficits, in combination with a high reparation capacity of leaves after significant dewatering, were observed in peach cultivars ‘Adalary v Snegu’ and ‘Fei Tao’, in peach-almond hybrids ‘Fleur Pompon’ and ‘Ruthenia’, and in the hybrid David-peach ‘Belosnezhka’.

I International Conference and X National Horticultural Science Congress of Iran (IrHC2017)

L.D. Komar-Tyomnaya

cultivar, hybrid, a water content, a water deficit, a leaf turgor rehabilitation

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2021.1315.53