Breeding of Fruit and Plantation Crops

Plum

Breeding objectives

• In European plum (Prunus domestica), improvement for cold hardiness, productivity, large sized fruits, colour (red, purple or blue), free stone and dessert quality are important criteria. For Japanese plums (P. salicina), self fertile, late blooming plums, with high quality (particularly yellow skin) are important characteristics.


• The main objectives of plum improvement programme for subtropical regions are to develop an early maturing cultivar with low chilling requirement, tolerant to high temperature and dwarfing rootstocks, tolerant to saline and stagnant soils, large fruited, free stone, juicy with proper TSS/ acid ratio, suitable for processing and resistant / tolerant to insect, pests and diseases.

Breeding methods
Introduction

• A large number of plum varieties have been introduced from different countries. Of these, Santa Rosa and Sutlej Purple are important commercial cultivars found suitable for mid hills of North Western Himalayas. Other methods of breeding are not yet followed in this crop in India