EVALUATION OF POTENTIAL ALTERNATIVE EUROPEAN PEAR CULTIVARS FOR U.S. WEST COAST GROWERS

California, Oregon, and Washington produced 98% of the commercial U.S. pear crop from 2003–2005, consisting of ‘Williams’ (‘Bartlett’) (51%), ‘Beurré Anjou’ (36%), ‘Beurré Bosc’ (11%) and 2% others, mainly ‘Doyenne du Comice’, ‘Red Clapp’s Favorite’, ‘Seckel’ and ‘Concorde’. Declining processing demand has heightened interest and evaluation of new fresh market alternatives.
Production, post-harvest quality, and consumer sensory evaluation data from 2001 to 2006 has allowed identification of several new potentially commercially valuable cultivars.
Among the more favorably rated candidates are fire blight resistant selections developed at the USDA Appalachian Fruit Research Station in Kearneysville, West Virginia.
These are ‘Blake’s Pride’ (OHUS 66131-021), US 71655-014 and ‘Sunrise’ (OHUS 66170-047), which both bloom and harvest before or with ‘Bartlett’. ‘Blake’s Pride’ trees yield consistently but dry weather is required for optimum fruit finish. ‘Sunrise’ trees are also productive and fruit maintains a clear finish.
Also promising is Cinnamon^® (Fowler Nurseries, Inc., Newcastle, CA, USA), a fully russeted sport of ‘Bartlett’ which blooms before or with ‘Bartlett’ but harvests about two weeks later in California. ‘Abate Fetel’ and ‘Concorde’ have been difficult to ripen in California, and ‘Concorde’ has shown some internal browning after one month of storage.

X International Pear Symposium

R.B. Elkins, J. Turner, C.F. Seavert, S. Castagnoli, E.J. Mitcham, W.V. Biasi, A. Colonna, R. Bell

European pears, pear cultivars, sensory evaluation, consumer testing, USDA fire blight resistant selections, ‘Blake’s Pride’, ‘Sunrise’, ‘Cinnamon’, OHUS 66131-021, OHUS 66170-047, US 71655-014

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2008.800.61