Create your own conference schedule! Click here for full instructions

Abstract Detail

Crop Wild Relatives and Land Races: the Sky Islands of Southwest North American Agriculture

Adventures with Citrus Germplasm; Opportunities and Challenges as the Curator of an Ex Situ Germplasm Collection.

The University of California (UC), Riverside Citrus Variety Collection (CVC) was established in 1910 as part of the UC Citrus Experiment Station in Riverside to serve as a resource for research to benefit the citrus industry. Today, with approximately 4,500 trees of over 1048 cultivars and species of citrus and related taxa, the CVC is one of the most extensive collections of citrus diversity in the world. This collection includes both commercial and historic citrus cultivars as well as other genera and species in the Aurantioideae subfamily of the Rutaceae. The CVC is a resource for research, breeding, and characterization of citrus germplasm by scientists from UC and other academic institutions and companies. My 24-year tenure as the curator of this citrus germplasm collection has presented a number of opportunities and challenges for the management and expansion of the collection. I will talk about how being open to new partnerships and prospects provided focus for the UCR Citrus Variety Collection and inspiration for research. The opportunity to “take guardianship” of the UCR Citrus Variety Collection and a willingness to explore unlikely allies has changed my perspective on citrus diversity and deepened my role as curator. Challenges such as the discovery of three huanglongbing (HLB) infected trees in Riverside, CA 2.25 miles from the collection in the summer of 2017 along with increasing number of HLB infected trees and the pervasive spread of the vector Asian Citrus Psyllid necessitated further protection of the CVC. A “back-up” collection of two small trees per accession in a federally approved Asian citrus psyllid (ACP) exclusionary structures at UC Riverside and the USDA ARS facilities was initiated in 2008. These provide a high level of protection, but field evaluation of horticultural traits, especially of fruit is severely limited. Research was conducted to determine the best design to house an additional tree of each accession as new field trees in a “CUPS” (Citrus Under Protective Screen) structure. The design of this screened structure focuses on sustainable growth, flowering and fruit set of trees under southern CA climate to allow for continued breeding, research and to preserve and protect this valuable germplasm collection for researchers, the public and the long-term sustainability of the industry.

1 -

Keywords:
Citrus Germplasm
Citrus Under Protective Screen.

Presentation Type: Symposium Presentation
Session: SYM4, Crop Wild Relatives and Land Races: the Sky Islands of Southwest North American Agriculture
Location: San Luis 1/Starr Pass
Date: Tuesday, July 30th, 2019
Time: 2:15 PM
Number: SYM4003
Abstract ID:719
Candidate for Awards:None