Pear Breeding

Pear Breeding. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Fruit Grower Report.

A few weeks back we heard Kate Evans with WSU discussing tree fruit breeding technologies in general. Today we hear from her about specifically pear breeding possibilities. Evans was brought on a WSU as a pomme fruit breeder.

EVANS: As an interesting move for WSU I was replacing an apple breeder. There was a view that there was some interest in the industry to possibly doing a bit of pear breeding here in the state. So by putting in the title of pomme fruit breeder as opposed to just apple breeder that gives me the option and the opportunity perhaps of exploiting that.

The first place Evans is starting is with pear root stocks.

EVANS: I have a small program now looking at the feasibility of starting a root sock breeding program for pear. We’re bringing together a whole group of people to give me some input in terms of what the objectives for a root stock breeding program would be. And then the other part of the program is to start to bring together some parental material so that should we decide to establish a breeding program we can go ahead.

It does take a specific type of root stock to begin with.

EVANS: One of the interesting things when you are breeding root stocks in terms is that in terms of finding parental you need to have flowering root stock trees so their not widely available.

That’s today’s Fruit Grower Report. I’m Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.