They say you can judge the effectiveness of a group by the professionalism of its people, and in the small world of cultivar development, that is particularly true. Sharon Rosenthal, manager of Sun World’s embryo rescue laboratory in Bakersfield, is a member of a small but critical group of specialists that work in the field of embryo rescue, a required procedure in the development of new seedless table grape and early-ripening stone fruit cultivars. Each spring at Sun World, over a million grape and stone fruit flowers are hand-pollinated in the hopes of combining traits of two parents in a way that results in a new ‘one-in-a-million’ cultivar like Sugrathirteen or Suplumeleven. However, embryos of early-ripening stone fruit and all seedless table grapes are tiny and immature and must be cultured in test tubes in order to germinate. "Seedless table grapes are not really ‘seedless’ but the embryos are microscopic", said Rosenthal, adding "every year we excise over 50,000 grape embryos, using microscopes, and put them into individual test tubes" (see picture).

Rosenthal grew up in Sanger, in the heart of the fruit growing region of California, and received her degree from Fresno State in Plant Sciences. She acquired her professional training working with another leading program, the USDA Fruit Breeding Program, where she did some of the early work on new table grape and stone fruit cultivars being released today. "We’ve advanced from those days", remarked Rosenthal, noting "today we are routinely culturing stone fruit embryos only 1mm in length, something that was extraordinary back then. But we’re still learning. Every year we experiment with variations in media and procedures looking for ways to improve success."

Each year new test cultivars are planted  in the Sun World Low Chill evaluation block in California's Coachella Valley.  "Coachella is an area where cultivars with more than 200 Chill Units chilling requirement won't set consistently" explained Terry Bacon, Sun World Stone Fruit Breeder, "so we have a separate program especially for low chill regions." This year we will be looking at several new low chill apricots (see picture) nectarines, peaches and plums.

Check the Seasonal Shots Section as the season progresses

Sun World's Andrew Mansour spent the fruiting season of 2003 in Chile visiting with growers, nurseries and marketers.  He files this report:

Chile is arguably the most important source in the United States for contra-seasonal fruit from the Southern Hemisphere. Each year finds greater volumes of a wide range of high quality Chilean fruits and vegetables throughout the Northern Hemisphere. The season starts in November with early grapes grown high up the mountains in the fertile Copiapo valley, 800 kilometers north of Santiago and ends in April with late season apples and pears from Talca, 300 kilometers south of the capital city.

Sun World and a select group of Chilean nurseries, producers and exporters are sharing in the excitement brought on by the introduction of Sun World’s proprietary table grape and stonefruit varieties into the country. Dozens of cultivars have been sent to Chile. A few have been released from quarantine already, and many more will be released in 2004. Sun World is in the process of setting up test plots with growers eager to try out new cultivars.

Dole Chile, through Inversiones del Pacifico, is Sun World’s first licensed test grower. Sugrathirteen, marketed by Sun World and its licensees under the MIDNIGHT BEAUTY® trademark has been distributed to two different farms for evaluation. Sugrathirteen will also be evaluated beginning this year at Manflas, one of the earliest farms in the earliest region in Chile. Many more producers are expected to sign test grow agreements within the coming years as a growing number of Sun World cultivars becomes available.

Look for many new developments involving Sun World cultivars in Chile.

This winter/spring Sun World is planting several new promising cultivars in the Bakersfield and Arvin areas of California's southern San Joaquin Valley.   The photo shows workers planting new blocks of Sugrasixteen and Sugrathirteen in the Bakersfield area. New plantings of Suaprieight, Suplumthirtyfour and Suplumthirtyfive were planted in the Bakersfield area and plantings of the early-ripening Suaprinine and Suapriten were planted in the early-ripening area near Arvin.