Inheritance and expression of fruit texture melting, non-melting and stony hard in peach

Fruit ethylene production and flesh firmness were measured in F1 and F2 offsprings from a cross of a non-melting cultivar 'Nishiki' and a stony hard cultivar 'Yumyeong' of peach (Prunus persicaBatsch). Fruits from genotypes that showed no natural ethylene production were treated with 1000 ppm ethylene and subsequent flesh softening was observed. Genotypes of melting and non-melting in stony hard fruits could be distinguished by the degree of softening following exogenous ethylene treatment. The stony hard trait was inherited independently of the melting flesh/non-melting flesh trait and was epistatic to this trait.