TWENTY-FIVE YEARS PLUM BREEDING IN GEISENHEIM, GERMANY: BREEDING TARGETS AND PREVIOUS REALISATIONS

For 25 years, the breeding and development of plums in Geisenheim has focused on mostly blue plums.
The biggest efforts are put into improving cultivars for the early, mid and late season market segments.
Other important breeding targets are the desired properties like plum pox resistance, sufficient hardiness against the main pests and diseases and a general climatic robustness.
The main trading fruit size in Mid-Europe is equivalent to the “normal size” market segment (about 32-38 g and 34-38 mm) and includes the 7 following cultivars from Geisenheim – ordered after maturity time: ‘Topfirst’, ‘Topfive’, ‘Topking’, ‘Toptaste’, ‘Topper’, ‘Top’ and ‘Top 2000’. The four cultivars ‘Topgigant Plus’, ‘Topstar Plus’, ‘Tophit Plus’ and ‘Topend Plus’ represent the big sized market segment (>50g). Future developments will focus more toward specialities.

VIII International Symposium on Plum and Prune Genetics, Breeding and Pomology

H.B. Jacob

Prunus domestica, cultivars, suitability and usage, ripening time, cultivation criteria

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2007.734.48