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  • From: Michael Dossett <phainopepla@yahoo.com>
  • To: North American Fruit Explorers <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Fwd: ARS Scientists Develop Self-pollinating Almond Trees
  • Date: Tue, 6 Apr 2010 12:23:44 -0700 (PDT)

I wondered the same thing. Just because they are self compatible doesn't
mean you don't still need insects to move the pollen to the stigma. Having
said that, in the story it sounds like they excluded pollinators and still
ended up with enough set to get a crop...

Michael Dossett
Corvallis, Oregon
www.Mdossettphoto.com
phainopepla@yahoo.com


--- On Tue, 4/6/10, Douglas Woodard <dwoodard@becon.org> wrote:

> From: Douglas Woodard <dwoodard@becon.org>
> Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Fwd: ARS Scientists Develop Self-pollinating Almond
> Trees
> To: "North American Fruit Explorers" <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
> Date: Tuesday, April 6, 2010, 11:49 AM
> Does anyone know whether this
> "without insect pollination" claim is true
> or a journalist's idea?
>
> I have understood that self-fertile fruit trees require
> insect
> pollination because of the heavy, sticky pollen
> characteristic of
> species that have evolved to use insect pollination.
>
> I can see a reduced need for hive rentals with self-fertile
> cultivars,
> maybe even being able to get along without rentals relying
> on solitary
> bees, bumblebees etc., but I wonder able being able to
> dispense with
> insect pollination.
>
> Being able to plant solid blocks of single cultivars would
> certainly be
> an advantage.
>
> Doug Woodard
> St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada
>
>
> Lon J. Rombough wrote:
> > Begin forwarded message:
> >
> > STORY LEAD:
> > ARS Scientists Develop Self-pollinating Almond Trees
> >
> > ___________________________________________
> >
> >
> > ARS News Service
> > Agricultural Research Service, USDA
> > Alfredo Flores, (301) 504-1627, alfredo.flores@ars.usda.gov
> > April 6, 2010
> > --View this report online, plus photos and related
> stories, at
> > www.ars.usda.gov/is/pr
> > --Follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/ARSInformation
> >
> > ___________________________________________
> >
> > Self-pollinating almond trees that can produce a
> bountiful harvest
> > without insect pollination are being developed by
> Agricultural Research
> > Service (ARS) scientists. This is good news for almond
> growers who face
> > rising costs for insect pollination because of
> nationwide shortages of
> > honeybees due to Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) and
> other factors.
> >
> > ARS geneticist Craig Ledbetter, at the agency’s Crop
> Diseases, Pests
> > and Genetics Research Unit near Parlier, Calif., is
> developing this new
> > line of self-pollinating almond trees.
> >
> > Self-pollinating almonds are not new. The Tuono
> variety, originally
> > from Spain, has been around for centuries. But its
> traits are not
> > attractive when compared to California’s most
> popular almond,
> > Nonpareil.
> >
> > Tuono’s seed coat has a hairy texture and it has a
> very thick shell, so
> > only 32 percent of the nut is edible kernel, compared
> to 60 to 65
> > percent for Nonpareil. But Tuono’s thick shell gives
> it more resistance
> > to the navel orangeworm and other pests. An almond
> that has traits from
> > both varieties would be ideal.
> >
> > Ledbetter and his collaborators used Tuono as the male
> (pollen) parent
> > in conventional hybridizations with California-adapted
> almond cultivars
> > and selections. The scientists made crosses at bloom
> time and came back
> > at harvest time to collect the nuts. They then grew
> those nuts into
> > seedlings and surrounded the branches with
> insect-proof nylon bags to
> > exclude insects that could serve as pollinators. The
> seedlings bloomed
> > and some produced fruits inside the bags, making these
> seedlings
> > self-pollinating.
> >
> > The original plantings in 1996 at first produced only
> small harvests,
> > but by 2006 produced excellent results. In November
> 2008, after a very
> > good almond harvest, Ledbetter and his team from
> Parlier brought eight
> > very promising selections from his self-pollinating
> almond breeding
> > program to the California Almond Board for
> evaluation.
> >
> > The board was pleased with the skin color, oil content
> and, most
> > importantly, the flavor. And best of all, the new
> almonds have many of
> > the same characteristics as Nonpareil, which sells for
> premium prices.
> >
> > Read more about this research in the April 2010 issue
> of Agricultural
> > Research magazine.
> > http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/AR/archive/apr10/almonds0410.htm
>
> [snip]
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