Structure of peach nursery trees in Lebanon

Peach represents an important element of the Lebanese agricultural production system.
Reliable information about nursery trees that constitute the peach orchard is not yet available in the country.
In this study, we present the first report on the peach nursery trees status, of whether they are locally produced or imported to Lebanon, and the resulting impact on the diversity of the Lebanese fruit germplasm.
The work was mainly based on an exhaustive desk analysis of the registers of the Ministry of Agriculture over 2016-2018. Data recorded for peach indicated an estimated yearly average of 50,788 imported nursery trees representing 3.5% of the total imported nursery trees of fruit species.
For locally produced nursery trees, peach had a yearly average of 152,789 nursery trees, making peach the second fruit crop after apple with the locally produced quantities higher than those imported.
At the germplasm diversity level, nursery trees of 125 cultivars are regularly registered of which 31 cultivars constituted the major share (72%). Among these cultivars, six are strictly locally produced (‘Armking’, ‘Caldisi 2000’, ‘Laure’, ‘O’Henry’, ‘Springtime’, ‘Venus’), 16 are strictly imported (e.g. ‘Royal Glory’, ‘Big Top’, ‘Red Elegant’, ‘Jade’¸ ‘Crimson Lady’, ‘Rich Lady’, ‘Crimson Baby’, ‘Big Bang’, ‘Big Sunshine’, ‘Monsat’, ‘Rome Star’, ‘Ryan Sun’, ‘Ordigan’), while eight cultivars are both imported and locally produced (‘Redhaven’, ‘Maycrest’, ‘Springcrest’, ‘Fayette’, ‘Dixired’, ‘Red Top’, ‘Independence’, ‘Suncrest’). These findings certainly reflect the high diversity of the Lebanese peach germplasm and indicate the potential of this prosperous fruit crop in the country.

X International Peach Symposium

L. Chalak, N. Tabaja, M. Siblini

Prunus persica (L.) Batsch, nursery trees, quantities, import, local production, cultivars, diversity

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2022.1352.43