Evaluation of Kentucky State University’s Pawpaw (Asimina triloba) Advanced Selections
Grade Level at Time of Presentation
Freshmen
Institution
Kentucky State University
KY House District #
57
KY Senate District #
7
Faculty Advisor/ Mentor
Mr. Jeremiah Lowe; Ms. Sheri Crabtree; Kirk Pomper, PhD
Department
College of Agriculture, Communities, and the Environment
Abstract
The North American Pawpaw (Asimina triloba) is a tree fruit native to the eastern U.S. that is being produced in commercial orchards across the U.S. and internationally. Pawpaw has a small but growing market. Approximately 50 pawpaw cultivars are currently available, with many of these varieties producing low yields with fruit sizes of 120 grams or less. Pawpaw varieties with fruit weighing over 120 grams are considered to have a large enough fruit size for commercial sale and processing. New, high-yielding cultivars with excellent fruit quality would assist with the further development of the pawpaw industry. Kentucky State University serves as the National Clonal Germplasm Repository for Pawpaw. Two goals of the Repository research efforts are germplasm acquisition and evaluation. The repository contains over 2000 accessions from 16 different states; additionally, both open-pollinated seedlings from superior genotypes and crosses of superior selections have been incorporated into the repository collection. Fruit from three KSU advanced selections (G9-109, G9-111, and Hy3-120) were compared to fruit from the commercially available cultivar ‘Mango’ on the basis of fruit weight, percent seed, soluble solids, and Phyllosticta fungal spot coverage. The selection Hy3-120 had the largest fruit size, averaging over 200 grams per fruit, the lowest percent seed (6.33%), and the highest Brix level (25.26). G9-111 had the highest incidence of Phyllosticta fungal spot, with an average coverage of 14.13%. Hy3-120 shows potential to be a promising new release and has been budded onto seedling rootstock for further evaluation
Evaluation of Kentucky State University’s Pawpaw (Asimina triloba) Advanced Selections
The North American Pawpaw (Asimina triloba) is a tree fruit native to the eastern U.S. that is being produced in commercial orchards across the U.S. and internationally. Pawpaw has a small but growing market. Approximately 50 pawpaw cultivars are currently available, with many of these varieties producing low yields with fruit sizes of 120 grams or less. Pawpaw varieties with fruit weighing over 120 grams are considered to have a large enough fruit size for commercial sale and processing. New, high-yielding cultivars with excellent fruit quality would assist with the further development of the pawpaw industry. Kentucky State University serves as the National Clonal Germplasm Repository for Pawpaw. Two goals of the Repository research efforts are germplasm acquisition and evaluation. The repository contains over 2000 accessions from 16 different states; additionally, both open-pollinated seedlings from superior genotypes and crosses of superior selections have been incorporated into the repository collection. Fruit from three KSU advanced selections (G9-109, G9-111, and Hy3-120) were compared to fruit from the commercially available cultivar ‘Mango’ on the basis of fruit weight, percent seed, soluble solids, and Phyllosticta fungal spot coverage. The selection Hy3-120 had the largest fruit size, averaging over 200 grams per fruit, the lowest percent seed (6.33%), and the highest Brix level (25.26). G9-111 had the highest incidence of Phyllosticta fungal spot, with an average coverage of 14.13%. Hy3-120 shows potential to be a promising new release and has been budded onto seedling rootstock for further evaluation