Crops
Pyrus communis L. - Common Pear.
Regular position.
Family Rosaceae Juss., genus Pyrus L.Morphology and biology.
2n=34, 51, 68. Tree 20-30 m tall. Life duration till 120-200 years. The form of a crone strongly varies for different sorts. The bark on a trunk and on perennial branches is covered with longitudinal cracks. Shoots usually naked. Vegetativ buds are ovoid or conical forms. Outlines and the form of a leave blade vary depends on the sort. For young leaves typically easy pubescence. Long and thin leaves petioles are arcuately bent and their length almost equal by leaves blade. Sepal are trihedrally-lanceolate and also have the felt indumentum. Petals colour is white usually, rare pink or red.Form of the petals vary from rounded to elliptical or nearly spade. Stamens 18-32, with red - violet, pink or cream-coloured anthers. Fruits from pear-shaped up to almost spherical, strongly vary by size (from 5 up to 9 sm and more), colour, flavouring and gustatory qualities.Distribution.
The first mention of pear cultivation on the territory of the former USSR concerns to 11 century. The basic zone of industrial cultivation covers black-soil belt of Russia, Ukraine and Moldova, Crimea, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, the Volga region, Uzbekistan. Northern border of a zone passes by line Volochisk - Hmelnizkiy - Vinniza - Uman - Krivoy Rog - Zaporozje - Rostov - Astrahan, then in Middle Asia on the stripe Krasnovodsk - Nukus - Chimkent - Dzambul - Panfilov. The gardens having industrial value, are distributed also in Belorussia and Baltic States. In the garden disposed to north, the pear very usually up to stripe connected Pskov, Yaroslavl, Ufa. The most northern points of cultivation are marked for Vyborg and island Konevets (Ladoga lake).Ecology
Cultivars of a pear are requiring to climatic and soil conditions. The period without frosty with duration about 30 days need for successful culture of the summer sorts, 150-180 days for autumn and winter sorts. The pear is reconciled with many types of soil except of sandy and crushed stone, but prefers subacidic or neutral, well aerated soil. Full fructification comes in 6-8 years after planting and continues till 80-100 years. Entering of organic-mineral fertilizers gives positive influence on pear.Economic value.
It takes the second place among seed kinds (after apple-tree) by size of the occupied areas - about 230 thousand hectares (the industrial plantings from them are 110 thousand hectares). There is zoned about 230 sorts of pear on the territory of Russia and the adjacent states. According to quality of pulp and its taste isolate table, dessert and canning sorts. Productivity of sorts from 5 up to 10 ton per hectare and more (in conditions of Crimea, Georgia, Armenia, Uzbekistan, Moldova). Fruits are a product of a dietary feed. Contain mineral salts, nitrogenous, tannic, aromatic substances, apple, citric and sorrel acids, and also vitamins A, C, P. The content of sugars varies from 7,0 up to 10,4 % of dry weight. Fruits are used in a fresh and dried kind, for jam, juice, in the canning and confectionery industry. Wood is used for manufacturing musical tools, joiner's and turning works. The black paint is extracted from a bark. Fruits are thought much in tradicional medicine. Trees of pear are good honey plants and ornamental plants.Literature.
Bahteev F.H. The major fruit plants. Moscow, "Prosvezhenie", 1970, 351 p.Cherepanov s. K. Vascular plants of Russia and adjacent states. St.Petersburg: Mir and semja-95, 1995. C. 852
Cultural Flora of USSR / (Ed.) V. L. Vitkovskij. Moscow: Kolos, 1983. P. 126-225
Fiodorov An.A. Genus Pear - Pyrus L. // Trees and shrubs of USSR. Ed.by S. J. Sokolov. Vol. 3. Мoscow, Leningrad: Nauka, 1954. p. 394-399.
Flora of USSR / (Ed.) V. L. Komarov. Vol. 9. Moscow; Leningrad: Academia nauk SSSR, 1941. P. 338-339
Pear / Ed. by V.I.Sergeev. Moscow: the State publishing house of the agricultural literature, 1983. 534 p.
Vitkovskij V.L. Fruit plants of the world. St.-Petersburg-Moscow-Krasnodar. Lan'. 2003. 592 p.