Fruit quality in some progenies of plum varieties with tolerance to PPV

Thirty plum progenies, comprising a total number of 817 seedlings, were obtained at Holovousy by crossing parent varieties previously evaluated as tolerant to plum pox. These were evaluated between 1998-2003 for some characters describing fruit quality. The highest value (38.3 g) of mean fruit weight was found in the progeny 'Pamjat Vavilova' x Cacanska najbolja' with the span from 25.2 to 49.2 g. The smallest fruit size, on the other hand, was observed in the progeny 'Jelta Boutilcovidna' x 'Chrudimer' with the mean progeny value of 19.5 g and the span from 12.4 to 26.0 g only. The seedling with the biggest fruit (54.2 g on average) segregated in the progeny was 'Asatan' x 'Cacanska najbolja'. Donors of excellent fruit taste were more frequently 'Cacanska lepotica', 'Common Prune', 'Ontario' and 'Gabrovska, whereas progenies of 'Jelta Boutilcovidna' generally tasted less good. 'Common Prune', 'Zimmers Fruhzwetsche' and 'Stanley' seemed to be the best donors of fruit aroma. Seedlings from progenies of 'Agen Prune', 'Zimmers Fruhzwetsche' and 'Common Prune' had firmer fruit flesh, whereas some progenies of 'Stanley' frequently had flesh that was not firm enough. The content of soluble solids was the highest in progenies of 'Zimmers Fruhzwetsche', 'Cacanska lepotica' and 'Common Prune', whereas offsprings of 'Pamjat Vavilova' generally had the lowest values. The highest shares of promising seedlings regarding fruit quality were selected in progenies of 'Cacanska lepotica' x 'Gabrovska', 'Cacanska najbolja' x 'Gabrovska' and 'Asatan' x 'Cacanska najbolja', all of which seemed to possess the best compromise between fruit size and other fruit quality parameters.