ABSTRACT
Peach (Prunus persica (L.) Batsch), along with its smooth-skin mutant nectarine, is one of the most important temperate stone fruits grown in the world, though its culture has found a reasonable place in the subtropics too, despite the quality offruit being poor()). The native home of peach is China and not Persia, where it was grown as far back as 2000 B.C. (2,3). Three wild species are still grown there, namely, P. davidiana in the north, which is used as rootstock; and P. mira and P. fergamensis, which are indigenous to the Tibetan plateau and Sinkiang Province, respectively (3). The large-sized fruit varieties are grown mainly in the temperate regions of the world, where they find congenial environmental conditions for the healthy development of the plant and fruit. Important centers of commercial production of peaches lie between latitudes 30 and 45° North and South (1). The leading peach-producing nations are Italy, the United States, France, Japan, Argentina, Australia, Germany, Spain, and Greece. The apprdximate peach and nectarine production by different countries and the world is presented in Fig. 1.
