The southeastern U.S. peach industry’s shipping market demands large, high-blushed, yellow-fleshed, normal-acidity, slow-melting, freestone peaches. The U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS) peach breeding program at Byron, GA, one of a few programs left that is actively developing new cultivars for the southeastern climate, released the “-prince” series cultivars under W.R. Okie during 1980–2009 to cover the main production season (Okie, 1998; Okie and Layne, 2008a, 2008b). As a continuation of this effort, ‘Rich Joy’ (tested as BY92P2710) is released, which produces attractive, large, very firm fruit ripening ≈1 week after ‘Julyprince’ and ≈2 weeks before ‘Flameprince’, which can fill the harvest gap between the two cultivars. It has performed well in Georgia and South Carolina and is suggested for trial wherever the “-prince” cultivars are grown.
Origin
‘Rich Joy’ resulted from the cross of ‘Flameprince’ and BY87P0943 in 1992 (Fig. 1). BY87P0943 is an open-pollinated seedling of ‘Blazeprince’. The original seedling tree of ‘Rich Joy’ was designated as 92-2710g when planted at the Southeastern Fruit and Tree Nut Research Laboratory at Byron in 1992. For subsequent testing, the selection was designated BY92P2710.
Pedigree of ‘Rich Joy’ peach. OP = open pollinated seedling.
Citation: HortScience horts 55, 4; 10.21273/HORTSCI14720-19
Description
Trees of ‘Rich Joy’ are vigorous and productive. Leaf glands are reniform. Blossoms have large, showy pink petals and are self-fertile. Trees bloom slightly after ‘Flameprince’, requiring ≈850 h of chilling below 7 °C (45 °F) to break the bud dormancy in a climate similar to that at Byron. Trees have not been extensively tested in northern climates, but the original seedling was one of the few peaches to crop well at Byron after the devastating late spring freeze of 1996. No virus symptoms have been observed on ‘Rich Joy’ trees at Byron, GA.
Performance
Performance in Byron, GA was evaluated yearly based on the selected original seedling, as well as on multiple nonreplicated grafted trees in test blocks (‘Guardian’ as rootstock) (Table 1). Performance in South Carolina was evaluated at Musser Farm of Clemson University (data available at http://www.clemsonpeach.org). Appropriate pesticide sprays were applied on the schedule recommended by the Georgia extension service and farm management team, primarily to manage pests and fungal diseases on fruit or control weeds. No bactericides were used on any test trees or at any locations to maximize bacterial spot expression. ‘Rich Joy’ crops reliably, sizes well, and ripens in early to mid-July at Byron, ≈1 week after ‘Julyprince’ and 2 weeks before ‘Flameprince’. The fruit is very large, 7 to 8 cm in diameter when adequately thinned, and usually round with a slightly prominent suture (an identifiable characteristic). Fruit is firm and softens slowly on the tree, allowing it to be picked over a relatively longer period compared with other typical melting cultivars. At Byron, the fruit develops a yellow ground color early but can be left firm on the tree several days to increase in size and red blush color. At maturity, the surface is ≈90% bright red with an attractive yellow ground color and little pubescence. The more extensive red blush of ‘Rich Joy’ fruit (Fig. 2) makes it preferable to older ‘Cresthaven’ and ‘Early Augustprince’ (Table 1), which are in the same harvest window between ‘Julyprince’ and ‘Flameprince’. The flesh is yellow with some red in the pit cavity, especially if allowed to hang on the tree for an extended period. The freestone fruit develops excellent melting texture and rich flavor as it ripens. Trees appear to be highly resistant to bacterial spot disease based on little visualized symptoms on fruit and leaves throughout the evaluation years. It is worth noting that in 2017, ‘Rich Joy’ produced no fruit due to extremely insufficient chill, as was the case with all other high-chill peaches (Chen and Beckman, 2019). In 2015, the cultivar yielded a partial crop after a severe spring frost that caused varying degrees of crop loss in many peaches (Chen et al., 2016).
Evaluation data of ‘Rich Joy’, ‘Cresthaven’, and ‘Early Augustprince’ at Byron, GA.z
Typical ripe ‘Rich Joy’ fruit on a tree at Byron, GA, on 14 July 2016 (A) and harvested on 20 July 2016 (B) showing the size, shape, exterior, flesh, and pit in different views: suture side, back side, longitudinal halves without and with the pit (top left to right), stem end, blossom end, latitudinal halves without and with the pit (bottom left to right). Fruit are freshly harvested from an orchard at Byron, GA, without washing or other treatment. Each square on a Scor-Pal board is equivalent to 1 × 1 cm. Both photos were taken outdoors under the natural sunlight.
Citation: HortScience horts 55, 4; 10.21273/HORTSCI14720-19
Availability
The cultivar is tested and maintained in the orchard at the USDA-ARS Southeastern Fruit and Tree Nut Research Laboratory, Byron, GA. Request for the cultivar should be addressed to USDA-ARS, Office of Technology Transfer, 5601 Sunnyside Avenue, Room 4-1192, Beltsville, MD 20705-5131. Prospective licensees can also contact the same office at this e-mail: license@usda.gov.
Literature Cited
Chen, C. & Beckman, T.G. 2019 Effect of a late spring application of hydrogen cyanamide on high-chill peaches Agronomy 9 726
Chen, C., Okie, W.R. & Beckman, T.G. 2016 Peach fruit set and buttoning after spring frost HortScience 51 816 821
Okie, W.R. 1998 Handbook of peach and nectarine varieties: Performance in the Southeastern United States and index of names. U.S. Dept. Agr. Handbook No. 714. 1-808
Okie, W.R. & Layne, D.R. 2008a ‘Early Augustprince’ and ‘Augustprince’ peaches HortScience 43 1600 1602
Okie, W.R. & Layne, D.R. 2008b ‘Scarletprince’ and ‘Julyprince’ peaches HortScience 43 1603 1605