Preliminary Evaluation of Different Pear Species (Pyrus spp.) Based on Distinctive Characteristics of Seed, Fruit and Early Growth of Seedlings

The plateau of Iran has very high diversity of different species of the genus Pyrus that has not been evaluated at the species level and used in the national pear breeding programs. The present research was carried out with the aim of evaluating the variation in fruit, seed and the initial seedling growth characteristics of 10 native pear species and comparing them with three East Asian pear species during 2021-2022. The results showed that P. salicifolia and P. hyrcana species had the highest and lowest seed thickness that could be used to distinguish these species. The highest (226.5 g) and lowest (0.67 g) fruit weight was observed in the two Asian pear species, P. bretschneideri and P. betulifolia. The evaluation of the seedlings of pear species showed that the highest seedling height, stem diameter, number of internodes, number of leaves, number of leaflets and petiole length belonged to the seedlings of P. communis cv. Dargazi, and the lowest related to P. pashia. Cluster analysis based on morphological and pomological characteristics grouped pear species in two groups. The first group included P. communis cv. Dargazi and P. bretschneideri that were very similar for pomological characteristics. Considering the importance of breeding for devlepment of dwarf rootstocks, it is necessary to study the dwarf pear species especially P. pashia in future and for longer period.