This page was last updated on April 9, 2004
Click on one of the following links to skip ahead to find out what's new from the Homestead Trial, learn about Fall Crop of 2003, or go directly to Spring Crop 2004.
Homestead Trial
This trial is conducted at the Tropical Research & Education Center in cooperation with Dr. Waldemare Klassen and Dr. Leandro Ramos. Selections were made the week of March 8th. The plants were in fair shape but TYLCV was prevalent, which hampered growth. The projects included; compact growth habit, jointless pedicels, large-fruited globe-shaped inbreds, heat-tolerant inbreds, bacterial spot resistant inbreds, flavor inbreds, firmness inbreds, and hybrids; a total of 248 plots. One-hundred-twenty-seven selections were made and seed was extracted at GCREC. Twenty-three hybrids were harvested and graded. Fruit from 5 lines with different levels of firmness were harvested and delivered to scientists at the Indian River Research & Education Center. Hybrids with the best yield and fruit type were Fla. 8093, Solar Fire, Fla. 8135, Fla. 8143, Fla. 8219, and Fla. 8224. There were a number of selections that looked particularly interesting, but further testing will determine their ultimate value.
Fall 2003
There were 871 plots evaluated and the last selection was made on January 23, 2004. This was on the late side and our spring crop plantings have been spread out with some projects getting planted on the late side. The hybrids Fla. 8224 and Fla. 8153 (see unreleased germplasm section) performed well. Fla. 8153 had significantly better overall flavor than existing varieties tested for the second taste panel in a row. Some geminivirus resistant F3 lines had outstanding resistance and horticultural type and may lead to commercially acceptable hybrids in the near future. Fla. 8111B (see unreleased germplasm section) is showing promise as a large-fruited inbred. Some outstanding crimson, superior flavor early generation selections were made and will be tested in 2004 to determine their parental potential.
Spring 2004
This is the last field crop at our present location.
A high school is going up in the middle of our station and our new center is going up at Balm (see GCREC Website). There are 1318 breeding lines and hybrids planted, plus experiments testing hybrids, advanced inbreds, flavor, whitefly resistance, geminivirus resistant hybrids, and soft rot genetics. The main crop of breeding lines has recently been evaluated by John Petti for the old gold crimson flowers which had expressed well this season. Gail Somodi has been doing bacterial spot race T3 hypersensitivity tests in growth chambers. Aliya Momotaz and Cathy Provenzano have been doing SCAR marker work for spotted wilt resistance. Yuanfu Ji has been making good progress identifying RAPD markers linked to geminivirus resistance genes. Rosa Ayala has been taking care of much of the plant maintenance under John's direction.Aliya will soon shift into some intensive silverleaf whitefly resistance assays in the greenhouse. Pollinations will start the week of April 12th, leaving only about a month before it gets really hot. We will be experimenting with a barcode system to track the pollinations. John has done the ground work on that. Cathy will have the North Carolina hybrid seed ready to send soon. Selections will probably start in mid-May and hopefully finish at the start of July. Both geminivirus inoculations have gone well as there is plenty of disease. The bacterial wilt inoculation went well for the most part and we should see if we are progressing in obtaining lines with large fruit and a high level of resistance. The crop looks good overall. There is some TYLCV in the field, but less than last summer and fall. There are very serious outbreaks of TYLCV in West Florida this spring and some growers have had to pull up entire fields because of it.
This site was created and is maintained by John M. Petti
