V72511

Plum

Variety Description

Varieties used for comparison: 'Valerie', 'Vanette', 'Bluefre' and 'Stanley'

Summary: 'V72511' is a European plum variety which matures later than 'Vanette' and 'Valerie' but slightly earlier than 'Bluefre' and 'Stanley'. Unlike the other candidate variety 'V70034', 'V72511' is not self-fertile. The fruit of 'V72511' is larger than that of 'Vanette' and 'Stanley'. The shape is oblong, whereas the fruit of 'Vanette' is ovate and 'Bluefre' has rounded fruit. The ground colour of the skin is a more violet-blue to dark blue colour than 'Vanette', 'Bluefre' and 'Stanley' which have a more purple fruit skin colour. 'V72511' has yellow-green flesh, whereas 'Valerie', 'Vanette', 'Stanley' and 'V70034' all have either yellow or amber coloured flesh. The stone of 'V72511' is elongated in lateral view, compared with 'Valerie' and 'Bluefre' which have an ovate stone, and 'Vanette' which has a rounded stone.

Description:

'V72511' is a plum variety which produces moderately vigourous trees with a spreading growth habit and a dense crown. One year old shoots are medium in thickness, reddish brown in colour and have a semi-erect attitude. There is weak pubescence on the one-year old shoots, many lenticels and no flowers. The spurs are medium in length. The vegetative bud is small and conical in shape with a pointed apex. The bud is adpressed to the shoot, with a medium, decurrent bud support. Current season shoots have no pubescence and strong anthocyanin colouration at the tip.

The leaves of 'V72511' have a horizontal orientation. The leaf blade is broad obovate with a slightly acute angle and an acuminate tip. The base of the leaf is V-shaped. 'V72511' has dark green leaves which are moderately glossy, with no pubescence on the upper side and strong pubescence on the lower side. The leaf margins are serrate, with secondary serrations sometimes present. The petiole has weak to medium pubescence on the upper side and no pubescence on the lower side. The groove is moderate in depth. There are usually two glands which are located on the leaf base and petiole.

'V72511' flowers early in the season. The flowers are large with a thin, glabrous peduncle. The receptacle is moderately deep with no pubescence on the inner surface and weak pubescence on the outer surface. The sepals are triangular in shape and are not touching the petals or receptacle. The sepals are pubescent on the inner and outer surfaces. 'V72511' has creamy white flowers with no double petals. The petals are circular in shape and are not touching each other. The petal margins are weakly wavy, the base angle is medium in width and the upper margin is dentate. There is no pubescence on the margin or on the inner or outer side of the petals. The stigma is located above the anthers and there are few supplementary pistils. The ovary and style of the flowers are glabrous. The anthers are reddish orange. 'V72511' is not a self-fertile variety.

'V72511' produces medium to large fruit which ripen mid-season. The general fruit shape is oblong with the position of maximum diameter towards the middle. From the front view the fruit is symmetrical. The suture is medium in depth and uniform along its length. 'V72511' has medium bloom on the skin. The apex of the fruit is pointed and glabrous. The fruit stalk has sparse to moderate pubescence and the stalk cavity is moderately deep. 'V72511' produces fruit with a violet-blue to dark blue ground colour and violet dots on the skin. The flesh is yellow-green, firm and moderate in juiciness and texture. The acidity and sugar content is medium.

The stone of 'V72511' is semi-adherent to the fruit flesh. It is medium in size relative to the fruit, symmetrical and elongated in lateral view. In ventral view the stone is symmetrical and flattened and in basal view it is long-elliptical in shape. There is no keel. The lateral surfaces of the stone are fine grained and the margins of the dorsal groove are entire. The edges of the stone are moderately sharp . The ventral zone and stalk end are both narrow. The angle of the stalk end is acute. The apex of the stone is pointed.

Origin & Breeding History: 'V72511' originated from a controlled hybridization of two European plums, 'Verity' (female parent) and 'Bluebell' (male parent), made in 1972 and designated with the number 7251. 'Verity' is a mid to late-maturing, purple, medium sized, firm, freestone European plum. Flowers of 'Verity' were pollinated with pollen from 'Bluebell', which is a mid to late-maturing European plum that is blue, large, firm and freestone. Progeny was collected, stratified, germinated and planted out on their own roots in a test evaluation block at Vineland Station for individual evaluation and subsequent selection. This selection was made in 1981, designated V72511 and advanced to further tests. It was propagated onto a commercial rootstock and planted in test plots in Vineland in 1983 and 1990 for further evaluation and comparison.

Tests & Trials: Tests and trials for 'V72511' were conducted at the University of Guelph research facility at Vineland Station, Ontario from 2001 to 2003. There were six trees per variety in the test. The trees were 12 years old and were growing on Myrobalan B rootstock. Measured characteristics were based on a minimum of 20 measurements.