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Abstract
Freezing damage causes major economic losses in peach production in the Southeast U.S. This study analyzed and optimized two methods to measure cold hardiness of peach and provided a better understanding of the freezing process in peach floral buds. For artificial freezing test, floral buds attached to 5 cm stems were the most efficient sampling type to accurately measure cold hardiness. When using DTA, cooling scheme that consisted of an overnight -2 C incubation before start cooling at 4 Ch-1 improved correlations between LTE temperatures and LT50 from standard artificial freezing test. To better understand and localize the freezing damage of flower bud internal structures, we determined their order of cold susceptibility based on vital staining from the least to the most cold resistant as follow: pistils, stamen, corolla and sepal. In conclusion, both traditional and new techniques could accurately measure cold hardiness of peach, and benefit both growers and researchers.