'Lemonato' peach: a series of cultivated clones with high fruit quality

The ‘Lemonato’ peach is a series of clones cultivated in Magnesia, central Greece. These clones were selected locally from seedling populations characterized by different time of ripening and different fruit quality traits. The fruit are phenotypically discriminated from the other peach cultivars, as they have typical yellow skin colour when ripe, very little red hue and unique flavor and taste. The scope of the present work was the description of this series of clones based on morphological and agronomic characteristics, and fruit quality traits. Five trees of each ‘Lemonato’ clone in different locations throughout the cultivation area were selected based on ripening time. Presence of major stone fruit viruses was tested for each tree. For the morphological description of each clone, flowering time, shoot and fruit growth were followed in the field and shoots and fruit were described by UPOV. Specific leaf weight and leaf chlorophyll concentration were measured in late August. Fruit quality traits were also studied including fruit mass, skin colour, fruit firmness, soluble solids content, titratable acidity, total phenols and antioxidant activity. The results showed significant variation per clone and orchard for physiological leaf characteristics, shoot development, blooming and maturation time and fruit quality. We were able to separate trees with the best characteristics from each clone to initiate organized propagation, and, in the near future, to establish virus-free basic propagation material for each selection with different ripening times, to set up experimental farms and to exploit useful genetic traits through breeding programmes. These data will help spread the cultivation of this indigenous fruit clone series.