Regional Trials Pinpoint Almond Varieties With Highest Potential
January 20, 2016 Since the 1970s, the Almond Board of California has been trialing varieties regionally to determine the best and brightest trees for the market.
The current plantings represent the third generation of regional variety trials and, like the generations before them, are comparing new varieties to ‘Nonpareil’ in a commercial setting.
The new plantings cover three regions (north, central, and south). University of California Farm Advisor Roger Duncan has been working on the central region trials with the Salida Union School District and Farm Manager Lane Parker. Duncan says varieties are being evaluated for time of bloom and hullsplit, yield potential, nut quality/characteristics, and tree growth characteristics. They’ll also be looking for susceptibility to noninfectious bud failure, as well as insect pests and diseases.
The trees were planted in 2014, and the first harvests will occur this year. A total of 30 varieties are being trialed at each of the three locations, half of them being brand-new selections from the UC Davis and USDA breeding programs. Like the Independence variety, most of the trial varieties are self-fruitful, so they can be planted as a single variety, according to Duncan.
“These have all gone through preliminary field evaluations,” he says. “They will not be released until we have gathered enough long-term field performance data so that we are confident they will be good varieties without any major problems.”
He adds that the “holy grail” they’re looking for is a variety that’s both self-fruitful and self-pollinating, and that has yield and quality characteristics similar to or better than Nonpareil.
The trials also include varieties recently released by commercial nurseries, which are compared to standards including ‘Nonpareil,’ ‘Aldrich,’ and ‘Wood Colony.’ Duncan notes that trees in Butte County are on Krymsk 86 rootstock, Chowchilla trees are on Hansen peach x almond hybrid, and Stanislaus County trees are on Nemaguard.
Duncan says that growers will be able to visit the trial sites during scheduled field days.
“Ultimately, these trials will enable us to evaluate multiple varieties impartially, side by side, under the same field conditions for several years,” he says. “This should give growers the ability to make better-informed decisions about which varieties to plant in their area.”
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