Gene Discovery Will Help Avocado Breeders

This is Tim Hammerich of the Ag Information Network with your Farm of the Future Report.

Scientists have found a genetic switch that could shave years off avocado breeding by allowing researchers to identify one of a young tree’s most important traits long before it flowers. Researchers at UC Riverside helped identify the gene that controls whether an avocado tree has an A- or B-type flowering pattern. These flowering patterns determine how neighboring trees exchange pollen, making them an important factor in avocado production. UCR staff researcher Dr. Eric Focht says this could lead to a faster path toward more profitable avocado production.

Focht… “ The majority of the cultivars that we grow in California, they are A flower types, and the B flower types, if they are planted, are just there to give the pollen to the A flower type. The majority of the B flower type trees, their fruit quality is not good. So it's kind of a lost percentage of the acreage for a farmer. So what we have focused on here at UCR, creating new varieties, fruit quality obviously is primary. If it doesn't taste good, then what's the point? But another factor that could hasten the release of a variety would be if it was a B flower type and a good eating quality, because that means you could plant that in a farmer's Hass field and if that B flower type has a good market too, then you can get a hundred percent of your acreage having reasonable value being worth harvesting.”

Focht said this discover could pave the way for these pollinator trees to be producers as well.