[nafex] FW: New Pecan Variety Resists Disease

["Lon J. Rombough" <lonrom@hevanet.com>]

This item is one of the news releases and story leads that ARS Information
distributes on weekdays to fax and e-mail subscribers. You can also get the
latest ARS news on the World Wide Web at
www.ars.usda.gov/is/pr/thelatest.htm.
* Feedback and questions to ARS News Service via e-mail: isjd@ars-grin.gov.
* ARS Information Staff, 5601 Sunnyside Ave., Room 1-2251, Beltsville MD
20705-5128, (301) 504-1617, fax 504-1648.
----------
From: "ARS News Service" <isjd@ars-grin.gov>
To: "ARS News List" <ars-news@ars-grin.gov>
Subject: New Pecan Variety Resists Disease
Date: Wed, Aug 16, 2000, 5:17 AM


STORY LEAD:
New Pecan Tree Yields High Quality Nuts and Resists Scab Disease
___________________________________________

ARS News Service
Agricultural Research Service, USDA
Linda McGraw, (309) 681-6530, mcgraw@ars.usda.gov
August 16, 2000
___________________________________________

Pecan growers will appreciate a new strong-growing tree that produces
high-quality nuts and possesses natural resistance to scab disease. The new
variety, Nacono, was developed by the researchers with the Agricultural
Research Service and the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station. ARS is the
chief research agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The ARS
researchers selected Nacono from a cross between Cheyenne and Sioux, both
well known to growers for their high-quality nuts and scab resistance.

Nacono is unique because its natural scab resistance allows it to be grown
in most U.S. southern pecan-producing states and in most other pecan
production areas of the world. Scab disease is most damaging to pecan trees
grown east of central Texas. Scab is a fungal disease that attacks both
nuts and leaves. For disease control, some growers spray fungicides as many
as 10 times a year.

ARS researchers in College Station, Texas, evaluated Nacono's performance
beginning in 1986. Through 1995, cumulative yields of Nacono were higher
than Pawnee, a popular variety grown worldwide.

Pecans are a multimillion-dollar industry. Rural landowners in the
southwest and southeast derive primary or supplemental income from growing
pecan trees in orchards or woodland pastures. In 1999, U.S. pecan
production was about 342 million pounds, with a value of nearly $448
million. Georgia, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and Louisiana are the top five
pecan-producing states.

Graftwood from Nacono will be available only to nurseries in February 2001.
Nurseries could have trees to sell to the public in early 2003. (USDA does
not distribute trees.) Trees of this variety will be incorporated into the
ARS National Plant Germplasm System, so that Nacono will be available for
research purposes, including development and commercialization of new
varieties. The database for the National Plant Germplasm System can be
found on the Web at:
http://www.ars-grin.gov/npgs

USDA's pecan breeding program is the only national pecan breeding program
in the world.
___________________________________________

Scientific contact: Tommy E. Thompson, ARS Crop Germplasm Research Unit,
College Station, Texas, phone (979) 272-1402, fax (979) 272-1401,
tet@tamu.edu.
___________________________________________

This item is one of the news releases and story leads that ARS Information
distributes on weekdays to fax and e-mail subscribers. You can also get the
latest ARS news on the World Wide Web at
www.ars.usda.gov/is/pr/thelatest.htm.
* Feedback and questions to ARS News Service via e-mail: isjd@ars-grin.gov.
* ARS Information Staff, 5601 Sunnyside Ave., Room 1-2251, Beltsville MD
20705-5128, (301) 504-1617, fax 504-1648.




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