Summer variety of intensive type, selected at the North Caucasus Regional Institute of Horticulture and Viticulture, obtained by crossing the varieties Melba and Kuban spur. Breeder S. N. Artiukh.
The variety was included in the State Register for the North Caucasus zone in 2002 and is distributed throughout southern Russia. It can be grown in the southern part of the Central Chernozem Zone.
Tree is moderately vigorous, with an oval crown in youth, becoming spherical with age, main branches raised upward, by the 10th year spreading sideways, well covered with buds. Fruit-bearing occurs mainly on buds, less on spur branches and one-year shoots. Bark is yellowish-gray, smooth.
Shoots are thick and medium-sized, straight and curved, round in cross-section, reddish-brown, slightly hairy, with many buds in the lower part of the shoot. Buds are large, round, hairy. Leaves are large, broad-oval, dark green, finely wrinkled, slightly glossy, with a long pointed tip. Leaf base is oval, with unequal lobes. Leaf blade is slightly concave. Leaf margin is finely toothed, smooth. Hairs are sparse. Petiole is medium-sized, bare, slightly colored. Stipules are awl-shaped or narrowly lanceolate. Leaf blade is positioned at an acute angle to the shoot, in the upper part — at a right angle.
Flowers are medium-sized, bowl-shaped, petals white with anthocyanin veins, aromatic, with a long hairy style, stigma positioned at the level of the anthers. Flowering is early.
Fruits (see photo) are above-average and large, fairly uniform, round, medium-flat, side ones — flat-round. Color when harvested is greenish-yellow, turns yellow during storage, with a blurred purplish-red blush on the sun-exposed side of the fruit and faint streaking on the rest of the surface, with large whitish subcutaneous spots. The entire skin is covered with dense bloom. Ripe fruits are intensely colored, which gives the variety popularity. The calyx is deep and wide with a grayish-green coating inside. The receptacle is medium-width, deep, slightly ribbed and faintly bumpy. The calyx is half-closed, with tightly closed and curled calyx lobes. The subcalyx tube is inverted-conical or funnel-shaped, light green, clean. The axial cavity is small, communicating with seed chambers via a narrow oval slit.
Flesh is white with a greenish tint, firm, juicy at harvest, turns light cream during storage, dessert-like slightly sour-sweet flavor, with a delicate aroma. In intensely colored fruits, flesh beneath the skin is light pinkish. Sensory rating: 4.8 points. Chemical composition of fruits: dry matter — 12.5%, sugar content — 9.5-13.5%, titratable acids — 0.4-0.8%, pectin substances — 157.3 mg/100g, ascorbic acid — 12-13 mg/100g, total P-active substances — 95-140 mg/100g.
Typical harvest period in central Kuban is the last decade of July to the beginning of August. Fruits can be stored for 60 days. Transportability is maintained with careful packaging. Fruit quality is high, 90-95%.
Fruits are consumed fresh, suitable for processing.
Self-incompatible, requires pollinators, the best being Welles, Melba, Alenushkino.
Trees begin fruiting on the 2nd-3rd year and produce marketable yields after 1-2 years. The variety’s productivity is high, reaching 200 centners per hectare by the 6th year, and on the best agrofunds, average long-term yields reach 500 centners per hectare. The crown size allows planting trees at densities of 1-2 thousand per hectare. Cold and drought resistance are high, comparable to the best varieties in these traits.
Fruits and leaves are highly resistant to fungal diseases.
Advantages of the variety: high adaptability to environmental conditions, early fruiting, high yield, high fruit quality and vitamin content.
Disadvantages of the variety: ripe fruits poorly hold during windy conditions.
The variety is used in breeding to obtain summer high-yielding and high-quality vitamin hybrids.
