Objective To breed new loquat cultivars with big fruit sizes and high quality characteristics, which were adaptive to the local ecological environment and welcome by consumers in Guangdong.

Method In this study, the hybridization breeding of loquat between different cultivars was carried out. The domestic excellent loquat cultivar 'Zaozhong No.6' and four big-fruit Spanish loquat cultivars ('Javierin', 'Peluches', 'Marc' and 'Ullera') were selected as parents. The quality of the mature fruit from the orthonogal group offspring lines was analyzed or evaluated, including average mass of single fruit, flesh color, total soluble solids(TSS), sugar, acidity, seed number etc..

Result and conclusion From the hybridizations, 15 offspring lines had been preliminarily selected as good progenies, as TSS of them were higher than those of 'Zaozhong No.6', and the average mass of single fruit was greater than that of 'Zaozhong No.6'. Some lines possessed higher sugar/acid ratios than those of 'Zaozhong No.6'. Three of the hybrids were selected and named ZJ14, ZJ191 and ZM24. The results showed that the separation of the average mass of single fruit and the TSS were extensive. The average mass of single fruit showed a trend of gradual decrease, with only 5.26% of hybrid plants producing big fruits (m>50 g); the TSS showed a trend of gradual increase, and the ratio of the over-parent heterosis plants was over 50%. The flesh color of these hybrids showed mutation, for some hybrids had yellow flesh as their parents did, while the other hybrids produced white flesh fruits. There was an obvious deviation between fruit size (the average mass of single fruit) and the flavor quality TSS. The progeny lines inherited the traits of high-sugar and high-acidity from their parents. New cultivars with high sugar and acid will probably be selected in the future.