Prunus persica Phenotype or Genotype. Prunus persica

The slow-melting flesh (SMF) trait in peach[Prunus persica (L.) Batsch] defines a slower process of postharvestfruit-softening than the prevalent melting flesh (MF)types. This gives a longer shelf life and a delayed harvest-timeresulting in better fruit quality. Unlike other known fruit texturetraits, SMF is difficult to measure and has a complexinheritance. We examined this character over 2 years in theoffspring of two crosses, both with BBig Top,^ an SMF nectarine,as the female parent, and with a melting flesh (MF)nectarine as the male parent (BArmking^ and BNectaross^).Following harvest, a texturometer was used to provide a texturalprofile analysis, and fruit firmness evolution was measuredwith a penetrometer over a period of 5 days’ storage at20 °C. Linkage maps were constructed with a high-densitySNP chip, and a phenotype-genotype analysis allowed thedetection of three independent genomic regions where mostQTLs (quantitative trait loci) were located.