North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Lon J. Rombough" <lonrom@hevanet.com>]

Nothing new about this story to most NAFEX members - just nice to know the
rest of the world is starting to catch on to it.

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From: ARS News Service <NewsService@ars.usda.gov>
Reply-To: ARS News Service <NewsService@ars.usda.gov>
Date: Thu, 17 Jul 2003 09:41:48 -0400
To: ARS News subscriber <lonrom@hevanet.com>
Subject: Apricots Protected in National Collection

STORY LEAD:
Apricots--Exotic and Familiar--Protected in National Collection
___________________________________________

ARS News Service
Agricultural Research Service, USDA
Marcia Wood, (301) 504-1662, MarciaWood@ars.usda.gov
July 17, 2003
___________________________________________

Nearly 150 different kinds of apricot trees from around the world are
growing in a special orchard in northern California. These apricots, along
with a backup collection of trees living in 5-gallon pots inside a
screened enclosure, make up America's official national collection of this
delectable fruit.

Known as the National Clonal Germplasm Repository for Fruit and Nut Crops,
the genebank is headquartered at Davis, Calif., about 75 miles northeast
of San Francisco. The repository is part of a nationwide network of
genebanks managed by the Agricultural Research Service.

The California collection safeguards not only familiar apricots but also
their wild relatives. The collection's purpose is to ensure that the
apricots' genes--in other words, the apricot breeding pool--aren't lost
when orchards are pulled up and paved over, or when older, heirloom or
antique varieties are replaced by new ones.

Treasures at the Davis genebank include apricots from Russia, Poland,
Kazakhstan, Turkey, Nepal, Pakistan, South Africa and about a dozen other
countries. Some of these specimens have names as exotic as their origins,
like Janjir, Khubani, Chaksa, Min-Dze-Sin and Luizet.

Most of the apricots in the genebank orchard are varieties of Prunus
armeniaca, the most widely planted apricot in the United States.

Growers, treefruit breeders and hobbyist fruit gardeners use the
collection. They also donate new specimens to it. That has helped make the
genebank the largest publicly available assemblage of apricots in the
United States.

Among the genebank's most prized specimens are the remarkably sweet
apricots collected during a 1988 expedition to Pakistan. ARS researchers
based at Parlier, Calif., have bred the Pakistani apricots with varieties
suited to the climate in California, where most of the U.S. commercial
apricots are grown.

Within a few years, the researchers expect to offer growers and nurseries
a superb new apricot that boasts the luscious taste and pleasing texture
of the Pakistani fruit, yet thrives in California.

ARS is the U.S. Department of Agriculture's chief scientific research
agency.
___________________________________________

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