Peach breeding trends: A world wide perspective

Prunus persica is a diverse species that is used for both food and ornamental purposes. As a food, the peach has been sold in many different forms throughout the world depending on the preferences of the region. Recent trends in marketing encourage the development of "new" types and products to diversify the market for any given region. A peach is becoming more than a peach. Expansion of peach consumption will depend on marketing, quality consistency, and the cost of the fruit. Market trends that are impacting peach consumption are the globalization and need for year round supplies of produce, the high cost of labor, the diversification of the produce department and related products, the health benefits of the fruit, and the safety issues of pesticide use and bacterial contamination of fresh produce. These pressures have renewed interest in production systems to extend the harvest season, to reduce chemical inputs, and to ensure consistent fruit quality. In response, breeders are focussing more efforts on developing varieties with higher fruit quality, better post harvest fruit characteristics, greater resistance to disease and pests, higher levels of health benefiting phytochemicals, a greater diversity of fruit types to market, modified tree architecture to facilitate fruit culture, and adaptation to subtropical and tropical regions of the world. Although a breeding program involves much fieldwork, new technology of genetic transformation, mapping, and molecular markers is beginning to make an impact on the breeding process.