Prunus domestica L. (Plum)

Crop Type: Tree crop

Breeding system: Predominantly allogamous

Prunus domestica L. originated from the Caucasus region in West Asia. It belongs to the Rosaceae family and is one of the species of plum.

Plums constitute the most numerous and diverse group of tree species (Pijipers et al., 1986). Over 6000 varieties of plums, referable to more than 20 species differing in their geographical origin, chromosome number and pedo-climatic demand are currently cultivated or are part of germplasm collections (Blažek, 2007). Among these varieties (including many landraces) there is wide range of fruit size, colour, form, firmness and texture. The plant morphology is also very variable; in fact, some plants are shrub-like while others tree-like (Blažek, 2007). However, only few Prunus species are commercially relevant: Prunus domestica L., P. cerasifera Ehrh., P. salicina Lindl. and hybrids derived from their crosses. Among them P. domestica L., is the most important plum species in Europe. This species has been divided into three subspecies: insititia (L.) Pir, italica Borkh. and oeconomica Borkh. Some botanists even consider the subspecies insititia as another species P. insititia. The world annual production of plumes and sloes is about 12 million tonnes (FAOSTAT, 2019). Plums, like most other fruit tree crops, is commonly propagated by grafting onto rootstocks.

References

• Blažek, J. (2007). A survey of the genetic resources used in plum breeding. Acta Hortic. 734, 31–45. doi:10.17660/ActaHortic.2007.734.2.
• FAOSTAT (2019). Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, FAOSTAT database.
• Pijipers, D., Constant, J., and Jansen, K. . (1986). ‘Rosaceae-plum, cherry plum, damson, sloe,’ in The Complete Book of Fruit (London, UK: Multimedia Publications), pp 98-103.

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