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New Plants for Florida: Tropical Fruit1
Jonathan Crane2Click here to view the print version.
FAES tropical fruit breeding began in 1930 with the establishment of the Homestead Subtropical Experiment Station, now called the Tropical Research and Education Center (TREC). S.J. Lynch, H.S. Wolfe, G.D. Ruehle and L.R. Toy introduced germplasm of numerous tropical crops for testing and evaluation. Their efforts, along with those of subsequent TREC scientists during the 1940s and 1950s, resulted in superior guava, sapodilla, and loquat varieties with improved fruit yield and quality. Later scientists C.W. Campbell, Simon Malo, and J. Popenoe continued to introduce, evaluate and select superior tropical fruit. These efforts lead to the release of Cariflora papaya and the Homestead guava, which are major varieties grown in south Florida today. The Golden Star carambola is now used as a main source of rootstocks for high-pH, calcareous soils. The Ruehle avocado, released in 1962, remains a commercial variety today. Cariflora papaya has been identified as one of the most papaya-ringspot-tolerant varieties ever produced and has been used throughout the world (e.g., Taiwan, Thailand, Latin America, Hawaii) to further the development of superior papaya-ringspot-resistant varieties. From the mid-1950s to the 1970s, researchers released a number of superior Tahiti lime selections. In addition, TREC introduced the Mauritius lychee from South Africa in 1952, the Magaña mamey sapote from El Salvador in 1961, and the Mysore raspberry from India in 1948. Currently, Mauritius lychee is the major lychee and Magaña the second most important mamey sapote variety grown in Florida. Several superior sapodilla varieties grown commercially today were released by TREC.
Today, the tropical fruit program includes breeding for superior passion fruit and carambola varieties and evaluating open-pollinated seedling material of mamey sapote and carambola. A molecular genetics project for papaya seeks to develop resistance to ringspot virus, to improve cold tolerance, and to select for superior insect and disease resistance and superior fruit quality and yields. There are ongoing projects to perfect the use of tissue culture and molecular genetics to aid selection for improved resistance to sunblotch viroid, anthracnose fruit resistance, and phytophthora root-rot rootstocks in avocado, for fruit anthracnose resistance in avocado and mango, and for cold tolerance in papaya, and to evaluate and select superior rootstock germplasm from open-pollinated West Indian type avocados for phytophthora root-rot-resistant rootstock.
Florida tropical fruit industry acreage has fluctuated during the past 70 years due to natural disasters, foreign competition and changes in the U.S. demographics. Today, there are about 16,000 acres in cultivation, with an economic impact of over $137 million annually.
For more information about tropical fruit varieties, see the following EDIS publications:
HS 1 The Sapodilla (Manilkara zapota, Van Royen) in Florida
Circular 1024 The Avacado
HS 49 The Longan (Dimocarpus longan Lour.) in Florida
HS 4 The Guava
FC-30 The Mamey Sapote
HS 28 Barbados Cherry
HS-5 The Loquat
HS 11 The Papaya
FC-8 The Tahiti Lime
HS 23 Dooryard Fruit Varieties
Tables
Table 1. FAES tropical fruit varieties selected or bred at TREC, Homestead.
Tropical Fruit
Variety
Date of Release
Guava Redland 1941
Supreme, Ruby 1946
Homestead 1989
Sapodilla Prolific 1941
Brown Sugar 1945
Tikal 1959
White sapote Dade 1943
Mamey sapote Copan, Mayapan, Tazumal 1980
Black sapote Merida 1988
Canistel Oro, Trompo 2001
Barbados cherry Florida Sweet 1956
Avacado Ruehle 1962
Loquat Wolfe 1965
Carambola Golden Star 1965
Lime 10 Tahiti lime selections 1975
Papaya Cariflora 1986
Footnotes
1. This document is part of Circular 1440, a publication of the Florida Agricultural Experiment Station, the Agronomy Department and IFAS Communication Services, Florida Cooperative Extension Service, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, University of Florida. Publication date August 2003. Originally pubished as a booklet by IFAS Communication Services June 2003. Visit the EDIS Web Site at http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu.2. Jonathan Crane, Associate Professor, Horticultural Sciences Department, Tropical REC--Homestead, FL. Circular 1440 is edited by Richard L. Jones, Mary L. Duryea, and Berry J. Treat, Florida Agricultural Experiment Station. Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611.
Florida Agricultural Experiment Station, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, University of Florida, Richard L. Jones, Dean for Research, publishes this information to further programs and related activities, available to all persons regardless of race, color, age, sex, disability or national origin. Information about alternate formats is available from IFAS Communication Services, University of Florida, PO Box 110810, Gainesville, FL 32611-0810.
The Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS) is an Equal Opportunity Institution authorized to provide research, educational information and other services only to individuals and institutions that function with non-discrimination with respect to race, creed, color, religion, age, disability, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, national origin, political opinions or affiliations. For more information on obtaining other extension publications, contact your county Cooperative Extension service.
U.S. Department of Agriculture, Cooperative Extension Service, University of Florida, IFAS, Florida A. & M. University Cooperative Extension Program, and Boards of County Commissioners Cooperating. Larry Arrington, Dean.
Copyright Information
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