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Sun World Research
Position Available |
Cultivar Development
Specialist
assists licensing,
research and commercial
farming divisions of the
Company with adapting
new proprietary Sun
World-bred varieties of
table grapes and
stonefruit for
commercial exploitation.
A recent internal change
has created this
outstanding opportunity
to contribute richly to
Sun World’s new variety
development program. The
specialist focuses
his/her energies in
three distinct areas,
including the commercial
adaptability of new
cultivars, test plot
management and licensee
support. If you know of
someone with strong
viticulture and/or
horticultural knowledge,
solid analytic
capabilities and a
notable work ethic,
encourage them to
inquire for more
information and/or to
apply for this
Bakersfield,
California-based
research position at
wwalker@sun-world.com
or by facsimile at
1-661-392-4694.
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Report: Early Season
Plums |
Last month we reviewed
early season apricots,
nectarines and peaches and
this week we feature early
plum varieties at Sun
World.
We have
a long way to go
this year before plum
season is over
but Sun World is
already evaluating early
season cultivar
performance. "There is so
much market potential with
good early season plum
cultivars" noted Terry
Bacon, Sun World Stone
Fruit Breeder, "it is an
exciting product area to
work with".
BLACK DIAMOND®
 Suplumtwentytwo
Suplumtwentythree, and
Suplumtwentyeight
kicked off the BLACK
DIAMOND season with an
uninterrupted early season
harvest that started
mid-May and continued
until our main BLACK
DIAMOND plum,
Suplumeleven, started in
late June.
Suplumtwentyeight
(pictured) is the newest
of the three to be planted
commercially and has been
the most exciting this
year. "For us it is a
total package," remarked
Bacon, "good production,
size, flavor, and post
harvest quality in an
early season harvest
window that is woefully
lacking in good plum
varieties". This year in
the early Arvin district,
Suplumtwentyeight started
harvest in the first week
of June and continued
until mid-June.
Suplumeleven continued the
BLACK DIAMOND
harvest starting about 5
days later. Sun World
conducted post harvest
conditioning and storage
trials with
Suplumtwentyeight and
found it to be a
slow-softening plum with
excellent storage
potential and shelf life.
Early BLACK DIAMOND
variety Fruit Trial
reviews can be found in
Fruit Trial Reports on
May 16, May 29, June 6,
June 13, and June 27.
BLACK GIANT®
 Suplumthirtyseven
(formally the "505 Plum")
continues to be the most
exciting of the
BLACK GIANT plums with
Fruit Trial attendees.
"Suplumthirtyseven breaks
a lot of assumptions
people have about early
season plums", said Bacon.
"that they will have poor
production, poor size,
poor flavor, or all of the
above". Sun World R&D
performed thinning trials
this year to determine if
size distribution would be
adversely affected by
overloading the trees (see
photo above from the
trials). We tested
numbers of fruit per tree
(see table below) that
would be unthinkable for a
plum in Red Beaut season,
and still peaked on 50's
and 40's sizes (56-62mm).
Harvest was slightly
delayed and brix was
somewhat lower as a result
of overloading, but
overall, results were
outstanding."
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2007
Suplumthirtyseven Thinning
Trial Results |
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Size
Categories |
Aver. |
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Frt/Tree |
65's |
55's |
45's |
35's |
Brix |
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1095 |
26% |
36% |
31% |
7 |
14.4 |
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1264 |
16% |
41% |
34% |
9% |
14.6 |
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1379 |
29% |
49% |
21% |
1% |
13.9 |
Suplumthirtyeight
was interesting as
an early season BLACK
GIANT plum that can be
harvested pre Red Beaut in
the SJV (see photo
comparison below).
Suplumthirtyeight is
exciting to someone
wanting to sell a plum
domestically when there
are no other plums on the
market, but this year Sun
World R&D conducted
storage trials to
determine export potential
of the variety. Sun World
intern,
Petri van der Merwe
found that the cultivar
has potential in South
Africa as a plum that can
be stored using a
single-temperature regime
rather than the
dual-temperature regime
required by other early
season plums. "Basically
that means that
Suplumthirtyeight has the
potential as an export
plum that can be loaded in
containers with early
season grapes from the
Orange River in South
Africa", noted Bacon.
Suplumthirtyeight and
Suplumthirtyseven were
featured in
Fruit Trials on May 16
and June 6th this season.
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Suplumthirtyeight vs Red
Beaut
Bakersfield area, May 18,
2007 |
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South Africa
2006/2007
Table Grape Report |
-Johan
Jooste,
Vice President and
General Manager of
Operations, South Africa
South Africa
experienced a fairly normal
season with total
export volumes just below 50
million (4.5kg
equivalents). Previous
maximum was 53 million
cartons. The season was
about a week earlier and was
characterized by higher than
normal temperatures. The
early regions in the
Northern Province
experienced repeated summer
rains which affected volumes
and quality substantially.
High temperatures in the
Orange River and Western
Cape concentrated harvest
dates of varieties and
caused some internal
defects. White seedless (Thompsons,
Sugraone, Prime, Regal) as
well as seeded varieties
(Dauphine and Waltham Cross)
showed some internal as well
as skin browning, while
quality of black varieties
were better.
All main markets
reflected a decrease in
demand for seeded
varieties (Red Globe,
Dauphine, Waltham Cross and
Victoria) and more so with
black seeded varieties (Barlinka,
Bonheur, Alphonse Lavallee,
La Rochelle. Otherwise
quality in markets were
satisfactory with minimum
progressive defects like
decay and shatter.
Prices in original
currencies were similar
than previous year and
consequently payments to
growers improved owing to a
weakened exchange rate.
Against this background Sun
World varieties performed
well. More than 5 million
cartons of Sugraone were
exported to numerous world
markets. Although a low
percentage of browning was
experienced, quality was
satisfactory. Export of
Sugrathirteen increased by
75% over the previous season
with good quality. About
250,000 cartons (4.5kg
equivalents) were exported
to 25 selected premium
clients around the world.
The UK received 54%, the
Continent 35% and Far
Eastern markets 11% of the
total volume. Reports were
very complimentary with
minimum quality claims.
This was the first year that
volume allowed supplying of
programs with selected
customers.
Premium prices were
achieved above other
varieties in same markets.
Awareness in markets for
this variety is growing and
judging by the results this
year, its spells a rosy
picture for the future of
Sugrathirteen (MIDNIGHT
BEAUTY ®) in these markets.
Some 10,000 cartons
of Sugrasixteen
(SABLE SEEDLESS®) were
positively received by more
selected and distinguished
customers that specialize in
exotic flavors. The
strategy in future will be
to only supply this variety
to flavor conscious
customers. Small samples of
Sugranineteen (SCARLOTTA
SEEDLESS®) were also well
received by a few
customers. Although some of
the samples were very darkly
colored, keeping quality and
absence of defects,
impressed. Taste was
commendable at 20 brix.
More cartons will be
exported for market testing
next season.
A new red grape is
making its way to the
top.
For the past five years, Sun
World’s research staff has
evaluated a new early season
red seedless variety called
Sugrathirtytwo.
Sugrathirtytwo ripens with or
slightly after Flame
Seedless. It will be
harvested in Bakersfield from
mid-July to August. The grapes
are elliptic in shape, and
easily develop a uniform dark
red. Sugrathirtytwo is sweet
and more aromatic than Flame
Seedless. The vines are
moderately vigorous and spur
fruitful.
The most important
advantages this new
selection may have over Flame
seedless are its color
development and cracking
resistance. Especially in warm
weather, it will have a full
dark red, uniform color and
would not need hormonal help.
The other big advantage is
that it does not tend to crack
at the berry tip as Flame
does.
 Plant
material has been distributed
to several countries. “I am
very impressed with quality of
the crop I see this year here
in Coachella” said Johan
Jooste, Vice President and
General Manager of Sun
World-South Africa, during
his recent visit to California
in May 2007. “With the
dedicated work of Guy McGhie,
Cultivar Development
Specialist, we have found the
way to reach the berry size
and uniformity”, said grape
breeder Dr. Michael Striem.
The significant advantage is
for early ripening regions,
which obviously have a hot
spring and summer. Also for
organic production it will be
easy to grow a nice crop.
Sugrathirtytwo could provide a
good early start to the strong
emphasis Sun World is giving
to the late red grapes,
Sugranineteen (SCARLOTTA
SEEDLESS®). They are quite
similar in shape and color.
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