Annual Grafting of Nashi Pear in Low Chill Areas of Taiwan

Abstract

At present there are no high quality Nashi pear cultivars adapted to the subtropical (low chill) zone of Taiwan. A method to produce high chill Nashi pear cultivars in the lowland subtropical zone of Taiwan has been developed as a way to harvest Nashi pear 6 to 12 weeks before the harvest in the high chill regions. The procedure involves the annual grafting of already chilled budwood of high chill, high quality Nashi pears ('Hosui' and 'Kosui) onto the local low chill poor quality Nashi cultivar, hand pollination, the use of gibberellic acid (GA) to accelerate ripening, paper bags to protect the fruit, and the development of renewal wood for grafting the following year.