‘Sweet Skin’ Pear

Abstract

‘Sweet Skin’ pear ( Pyrus pyrifolia[Burm. F.] Nakai) was selected from a cross between ‘Shinsui’ and Wonkyo Na-11 (Hosui × Okusankichi) made in 1989 at the National Institute of Horticultural and Herbal Science (NIHHS) of the Rural Development Administration in Korea. It was first selected as 89-17-60 in 1997 for its attractive fruit appearance and good eating quality. After regional adaptability tests at 10 sites for 5 years from 2003 to 2007 as Wonkyo Na-40, it was named in 2007. It blooms two days later than ‘Wonwhang’, an early season leading pear cultivar in Korea. ‘Sweet Skin’ is strong in tree vigor and upright-spreading in tree habit. It is classified as highly susceptible to pear scab ( Venturia nashicolaTanaka & Yamamoto) having degree of susceptibility similar to ‘Niitaka’. ‘Sweet Skin’ shows no visual symptoms of black necrotic leaf spot caused by apple stem grooving virus. “Sweet Skin’ is cross-compatible with Korean major pear cultivars such as ‘Niitaka’, ‘Wonhwang’ and ‘Whasan’. The average optimum harvest time of ‘Sweet Skin’ was August 18, almost the same as ‘Shinsui’ and 18 days earlier than ‘Wonwhang’. The fruit is oblate in shape and bright yellowish brown in skin color. Average fruit weight was 455 g and soluble solids content was 12.7°Brix. ‘Sweet Skin’ has 27% non-edible proportion, as estimated by the ratio of core diameter to fruit diameter. The edible proportion is much higher than in ‘Niitaka’ (35%), ‘Wonwhang, (38%)’ or ‘Shinsui’ (35%). The flesh has abundant juice and negligible grit. The fruit taste of ‘Sweet Skin’ with and without skin was evaluated as superior to ‘Shinsui’. It also has higher total phenol and total flavonoid content in both fruit skin and flesh than ‘Niitaka’, the leading cultivar in Korea.