Almond tree named ‘Kester’

Abstract

A new almond variety (Prunus dulcis) designated as ‘Kester’ is provided that is well-suited for serving as a pollenizer of the widely-grown ‘Nonpareil’ variety. ‘Kester’ is cross-compatible with ‘Nonpareil’ and has good bloom overlap with this variety, making ‘Kester’ highly complementary to ‘Nonpareil’ in production systems. ‘Kester’ has demonstrated low potential for Noninfectious Bud Failure and other serious afflictions of almond. Further, ‘Kester’ displays desirable tree and nut qualities, along with exceptional yields.

Description

[0001]Latin name: Botanical / commercial classification: Prunus dulcis new almond cultivar.[0002]Varietal denomination: The varietal denomination of the claimed almond variety is ‘Kester’.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0003]A major objective of almond breeding programs is the development of new varieties capable of acting as a pollenizer variety. In particular, there is a need for the development of new varieties capable of acting as a pollenizer variety for the California almond variety ‘Nonpareil’ (non-patented in the United States). Because of its high market quality, ‘Nonpareil’ has become the leading California almond variety, presently occupying approximately 40% of total almond acreage.[0004]‘Nonpareil’, like most commercial almond varieties, is self-sterile and requires pollen from cross-compatible varieties for successful seed set. California almond variety ‘Winters’ (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 13,286) was released in 2002 as an early-Nonpareil bloom pollenizer to complement well-estab...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0005]The present disclosure relates to a new and distinct almond cultivar (Prunus dulcis) that has been denominated as ‘Kester’ and more particularly to such an almond variety that is a cross-compatible pollenizer for the later bloom of the major California almond cv. ‘Nonpareil’. In long-term regional testing, ‘Kester’ has demonstrated low potential for Noninfectious Bud Failure and other serious afflictions of almond, as well as demonstrating high yields of ‘Nonpareil’-type kernels, maturing just after ‘Nonpareil’ and so is highly complementary to ‘Nonpareil’ in production systems.

Problems solved by technology

However, the increasing incidence of the genetic disorder Noninfectious Bud Failure in the ‘Carmel’ variety has resulted in a dramatic decrease in new plantings of this cultivar and prompted the search for new pollenizer varieties having good kernel quality, productivity, and good overlap with the later ‘Nonpareil’ bloom.

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