Project Number: 6618-21000-013-00
Project Type: Appropriated

Start Date: Apr 04, 2008
End Date: Apr 03, 2013

Objective:
Develop new citrus scion and rootstock cultivars with needed horticultural traits, including enhanced tolerance of environmental stress, resistance to diseases and pests, and improved fruit quality and yield.

Approach:
New citrus selections will be created by sexual hybridization, mutation, and genetic transformation from existing cultivars and species. Hybrids and other new types will be tested for important traits using molecular markers, greenhouse and laboratory assays. Promising selections from these assays will be entered into long-term field trials at multiple locations and data collected on tree health, size, fruit yield and quality. Selections that appear to have desirable combinations of traits will be released for commercial or dooryard use.