INDUSTRY NEWS
Breeding almonds for Australian conditions
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Cassandra Collins is leading the University of Adelaide ' s almond variety evaluation program , which is delivering exciting results .
BEING able to produce consistently high quality almonds is essential in maintaining the reputation and competitiveness of Australian almond growers in the global market . Having access to new planting material will help growers cope with seasonal challenges including climate change , reduce the chemical inputs for pest and disease control and increase pollination efficiency . It is also critical all new varieties that are developed have the desirable qualities that marketers and consumers are looking for . For 26 years a quest has been underway to breed almond varieties
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The
In A Nutshell - Spring 2025 Vol 25 Issue 3 tools are getting faster , cheaper and more sophisticated , so it ' s a good time to bring them in .
- Cassandra Collins , University of Adelaide
that are better suited to Australian conditions . Ideally the kernels will be sweet , large , have a thin skin and be light in colour . The trees should also be self-fertile and produce an almond shell that ’ s soft to semi-hard . A tight shell seal , high productivity , high flower density , slightly erect tree structure and drought tolerance are the other desirable traits plant breeders have been focusing on . Since 1997 , the University of Adelaide has used 84 parent cultivars and achieved 315 different crosses from local and imported material via a classical breeding approach . In 27 years this produced 44,000 progeny and there ’ s been more than 60 superior selections so far .
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