Phenotypic diversity among local Spanish and foreign peach and nectarine [Prunus persica (L.) Batsch] accessions

17 Pags., 7 Tabls., 1 Fig. The definitive version is available at: http://link.springer.com/journal/10681Phenotypic data for tree and fruit characteristics was collected over three consecutive years from a germplasm collection of 94 peach and nectarine accessions representing both traditional Spanish as well as foreign cultivars with widespread global plantings. All accessions were grown at the Experimental Station of Aula Dei located in the Ebro Valley (Northern Spain, Zaragoza) under a Mediterranean climate. Tree traits evaluated included bloom and harvest date, vigor, yield, yield efficiency and flower and leaf characteristics. Fruit traits included fresh weight, firmness, soluble solids, titratable acidity, levels of individual soluble sugars (sucrose, glucose, fructose and sorbitol), vitamin C, total phenolics, flavonoids, anthocyanins, relative antioxidant capacity and ripening index. Extensive variability was observed for most qualitative and quantitative traits with significant correlations identified between many traits. While the traditional Spanish accessions demonstrated good adaptability to the northern Spain evaluation site, opportunities for continued improvement in tree and fruit quality traits were demonstrated by an extensive phenotypic variability within the germplasm collection.This study was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (MICINN) grants AGL2005-05533, AGL2008-00283 and AGL2011-24576, and RFP 2009-00016 cofunded by FEDER and the Regional Government of Aragon (A44). C. Font was supported by a JAE fellowship from Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC).Peer reviewe