ARS Scientists Develop Self-pollinating Almond Trees

By Agricultural Research Service News Service
Published on April 6, 2010
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Entomologist Chuck Burks (right) bags almonds to exclude navel orangeworm while entomologist Joel P. Siegel hangs a pheromone dispenser to disrupt the pest's mating. These techniques are part of an integrated pest management program under way in the San Joaquin Valley.
Entomologist Chuck Burks (right) bags almonds to exclude navel orangeworm while entomologist Joel P. Siegel hangs a pheromone dispenser to disrupt the pest's mating. These techniques are part of an integrated pest management program under way in the San Joaquin Valley.
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Geneticist Craig Ledbetter examines the nuts of a self-pollinating almond selection in a California test plot.
Geneticist Craig Ledbetter examines the nuts of a self-pollinating almond selection in a California test plot.

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, California, 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 percent 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.

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