Project Number: 5302-21220-005-00
Project Type: Appropriated

Start Date: Jul 24, 2008
End Date: Jul 23, 2012

Objective:
Develop and introduce new high quality and disease-resistant cultivars of almonds, grapes and stone fruits that will sustain American agriculture and supply high quality, nutritious fruits and almonds to U.S. consumers and international markets. 1. Continue evaluation of existing high-quality scion selections of stone fruit (apricots, nectarines, peaches, and plums) from the breeding program to identify those having desirable traits such as enhanced sugar content, novel peento flat shape and expanded ripening season, and table and raisin grapes with large seedless fresh fruit that stores and ships well, natural `dried on the vine¿ raisin trait, economic production levels with spur pruning, and enhanced anthocyanin content for fresh and processing markets. 2. Identify Vitis accessions resistant to powdery mildew and evaluate existing table grape and raisin breeding populations and selections for high fruit quality with host-plant disease resistance. 3. Evaluate existing self-compatible almond accessions adapted to California.

Approach:
Classical breeding techniques have been used to create segregating populations where the expression of quantitative traits has been concentrated and newly available characters have been transferred into adapted Prunus and Vitis germplasm. Plant materials in existing segregating populations of Prunus and Vitis will be selected and propagated for new cultivar development. Greenhouse and field screening will proceed to select Vitis seedlings with resistant to powdery mildew. The genetic control of raisins that dry on the vine and red flesh color in grapes will be determined through the evaluation of appropriate segregating progenies. Apricots will be selected for white flesh, for drying ability and for late maturity season from numerous segregating progenies. New self-compatible almonds will be selected having kernel qualities similar to Nonpareil, and four high kernel quality self-compatible almond selections will be trialed in isolated orchard conditions to evaluate the yield potential of self-compatible almonds in the absence of bee pollination. Formerly 5302-21220-004-00D (7/08).