Search and Access Archived Conference Presentations

2014 ASHS Annual Conference

19635:
'Gem': A New Precocious, Productive Pear Cultivar

Monday, July 28, 2014
Ballroom A/B/C (Rosen Plaza Hotel)
Richard L. Bell, US Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Kearneysville, WV
Tom van der Zwet, US Deparment of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Kearneysville, WV
Steven P. Castagnoli, Oregon State University, Hood River, OR
Todd Einhorn, Oregon State University, Hood River, OR
Janet D. Turner, Mid-Columbia Agricultural Research and Extension Center, Oregon State University, Hood River, OR
Robert Spotts, Oregon State University, Hood River, OR
Gary A. Moulton, Washington State University, Mount Vernon, WA
Gregory L. Reighard, Clemson University, Clemson, SC
William W. Shane, Michigan State University, Benton Harbor, MI
‘Gem’ is a new cultivar which combines excellent appearance, fruit quality and long storage potential with precocious and high yields. Fruit color is a light green when mature, and frequently has a red blush on the sun-exposed side.  It can be eaten immediately after harvest and after storage without softening, due to a crisp, juicy texture; in this condition, the flavor will be sweet.  The fruit will also soften to a melting texture if stored for two months in common air refrigeration, after which it will develop a lightly aromatic flavor.  Harvest maturity begins 8 days after ‘Bartlett’, but can be harvested over a three week period without loss of storability up to five months.  Trees on OHxF 97 rootstock at Hood River, Oregon have flowered and fruited as early as two years after planting, with early yield, five-year cumulative yields, and yield efficiency greater than ‘Beurré d’Anjou’.  Fruit size on unthinned trees averaged 150g, but thinning and delayed harvest increased fruit size to 259 g.  At Kearneysville, WV, resistance to epiphytotic fire blight resistance was moderate, but resistance to artificial shoot infection was high.  No infections occured in trials in Michigan.  ‘Gem’ was jointly released by the U. S. Department of Agriculture, Oregon State University, Michigan State University, and Clemson University.
See more of: Fruit Breeding (Poster)
See more of: Poster Abstracts