New Texas A&M Peach and Nectarine Varieties
The Texas A&M University Stone Fruit Breeding and Genetics program has released several series of medium to low chill peach and nectarine cultivars. These include the following series:
- Zest peach series: This includes Fire Zest One, the Royal Zest peach series (4 cultivars) and Golden Zest. These medium-chill peaches have a traditional tart sweet flavor. Fire Zest One ripens in early May whereas the Royal Zest series ripens from late May until late June. The Golden Zest peach is a yellow peach with a slight red blush.
- Flat Delight peaches: This is a pair of deliciously sweet medium-chill flat or donut peaches.
- Smooth Delight nectarines. White-fleshed and yellow-fleshed pair of low-chill nectarines and a medium-chill white-fleshed nectarine with superb sweet flavor that ripen in mid-to late May.
- Smooth Texan nectarines. Three yellow-fleshed, medium-chill nectarines that ripen from mid-May until early June.
- Smooth Zest nectarines. White-fleshed and yellow-fleshed pair of low-chill nectarines with a tangy sweet flavor that ripen in mid-May.
- Tropical peaches. This includes the Tropic Zest series, Tropicprince and TexFirst. These are low chill yellow-fleshed peaches that ripen from early May to mid-June.
- White Delight peach series. These four white-fleshed peaches are reminiscent of Georgia Belle but with better appearance, firmness, and adapted to our Texas environment. These subacid peaches have a wonderful sweet peach flavor and ripen from late May until late June or early July.
Cultivar Releases
