North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Dean Kreutzer" <deankreutzer@hotmail.com>]

> Has there ever been a joint effort with Canadian and United States breeding 
> programs?
> It would seem that, if, for example, the U of Saskatchewan and the U of 
> Minnesota transported experimental trees between each of their breeding 
> programs, both countries would be able to benefit with by getting their 
> trees through "quarantine" earlier.

Getting breeders to share germplasm is sometimes a challenge.  In my own 
admittedly small breeding efforts, I have seen everything from complete 
generosity to complete secrecy by fruit breeders.  In all honesty, I 
understand both point of views.

If you look at what is grown in the North Eastern US 
(Apricots/pears/peaches/grapes/cherries), there are a lot of cultivars from 
the Harrow research station, and Vineland research station in Ontario.  It 
is important to note that some of this cultivars made use of germplasm from 
the U.S.  So, cooperation does occur, but I have no idea if these research 
stations use a more quicker way to get and use material from across the 
border.

Prunus is probably one of the most difficult to import, due to PPV.  I 
personally have been able to import pears and other material, but have not 
been able to import Prunus.

Dean Kreutzer
Regina, Saskatchewan Canada
USDA zone 3

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