Decades-long experimentation at the USDA Agricultural Research Service in Parlier, California, has resulted in the arrival of the new Yorizane almond variety. ARS research geneticist Craig Ledbetter calls it a blending of the reliable Spanish self-pollinating Tuono with the ever-popular Nonpareil, the most planted almond tree since it was first introduced in the 1880s.
Nurseries have been reproducing Yorizane trees to make them ready for orchard planting beginning this year. "We've been able to provide budwood to six interested nurseries to develop mother trees for propagation," he Ledbettersaid. One nursery is already calling the variety, “striking in color…with incredible potential for the almond industry.”
The new nut is the offspring of a self-pollinating almond breeding program at the ARS lab, on-going since the mid-1990s during a scare about decimated honey bee populations. “Yorizane is the first thing that’s come out of the almond breeding effort for me," Ledbetter said.
Small numbers of Yorizane budwood are being made available through Foundation Plant Services for further research and breeding purposes.
Source: farmprogress.com
