Fire Blight Tolerant Asian Pear Cultivars for Alabama

Asian pear trees are quite precocious and productive. Nine Asian pear cultivars namely ‘Hosui’, ‘Isilwase’, ‘Kosui’, ‘Olympic’, ‘Shinko’, ‘Ya Li’, ‘Yoinashi’, ‘Atago’, ‘Shinsui’, and two European pear cultivars ‘Golden Russett’, and ‘Bartlett’, were planted at the Chilton Research and Extension Center near Clanton in the spring of 2010 to field-test currently available fire blight tolerant Asian pear cultivars for their adaptation to Alabama conditions.  The experiment is part of a multi-state replicated trial set in eight locations across the eastern United States to assess Asian pear cultivars potential for growers focused on producing sustainable fruit crops for local and regional markets.  Trees began flowering and fruiting in their second leaf and measurements of fruit quality began in the third leaf. Tree survival varied considerably among cultivars. By the end of the third season, all 5 ‘Bartlett’ trees were dead, and only 60% of ‘Golden Russett’ trees survived. All of the ‘Hosui’ trees were dead by the end of the fourth season. Cultivars ‘Ya Li’, ‘Ishiwase’, and ‘Shinko’ were vigorously growing by the end of the fifth season, while ‘Atago’ was the least vigorous based on TCSA measurements. Blooming of ‘Ya Li’ occurred early in the season, one to two weeks before other cultivars in the experimental plot blossomed. This indicates the importance of planting ‘Ya Li’ with a companion early blooming pollinizer cultivar such as ‘Ya Tse’. ‘Yonashi’ produced 26.3 kg/tree cumulative yield followed by ‘Olympic’ with 26.1 kg/tree during 2013-2015 harvest seasons and were the most productive cultivars. ‘Ishiwase’, ‘Kosui’, ‘Yonashi’, ‘Olympic’, and ‘Atago’ produced large fruit with mean fruit size between 203 and 236 g. ‘Kosui’ was the  earliest maturing cultivar based on fruit firmness and soluble solids content data. No significant differences in chlorophyll level and leaf area were found between studied cultivars. Our preliminary results indicate that selected Asian pear cultivars could be successfully grown on a small scale for local markets.