Inheritance and expression of fruit texture melting, non-melting and stony hard in peach

Fruit ethylene production and flesh firmness were measured in F-1 and F-2 offsprings from a cross of a non-melting cultivar 'Nishiki' and a stony hard cultivar 'Yumyeong' of peach (Prunus persica-Batsch). Fruits from genotypes that showed no natural ethylene production were treated with 1000 ppm ethylene and subsequent flesh softening was observed. Genotypes of melting and non-melting in stony hard fruits could be distinguished by the degree of softening following exogenous ethylene treatment. The stony hard trait was inherited independently of the melting flesh/non-melting flesh trait and was epistatic to this trait. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.