Flora's Flavor Interspecific Tree Breeding
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing interspecific tree varieties lack a combination of desirable fruit characteristics such as maturity timing, flesh color, and handling quality, which limits their commercial viability and consumer appeal.
Innovation Solution
The development of the 'Flora's Flavor' interspecific tree, resulting from a cross between 'Flavorich' and '147LB395', which exhibits vigorous growth, regular fruiting, and produces large, dark purple clingstone fruit with yellow flesh, improved maturity timing, and enhanced flavor and handling properties.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If existing intersspecific tree varieties are used, then commercial viability is limited, but developing new varieties requires extensive breeding programs and time
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by pre-selecting and characterizing parent varieties ('Flavorich' and '147LB395') with known desirable traits before crossing. The extensive breeding program had already identified and propagated these parents through multiple generations, establishing their fruit characteristics, tree vigor, and disease resistance profiles. This preliminary characterization of parent stock accelerates the development of new varieties by providing a ready foundation of proven genetic material.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs copying through asexual reproduction methods (budding, grafting) to replicate the new 'Flora's Flavor' variety and its parent varieties. By propagating selected trees vegetatively, the invention creates identical genetic copies that maintain the desired fruit characteristics, tree vigor, and disease resistance without requiring repeated breeding cycles. This copying mechanism preserves and distributes the improved variety efficiently.
2Manufacturing precision
If new variety characteristics are developed through crossing, then fruit quality and maturity timing improve, but genetic stability and true-to-type propagation must be ensured
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies self-service through the use of self-sterile genetics in the parent varieties, which require cross-pollination to set fruit. This genetic characteristic ensures that the new variety inherits controlled pollination requirements, allowing for predictable fruit set and consistent genetic expression. The self-sterile trait acts as a built-in mechanism that enforces cross-breeding and maintains genetic uniformity in the propagated variety.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent utilizes parameter changes by selecting parent varieties with specific, complementary traits (maturity timing, flesh color, fruit size, disease resistance) and combining them through controlled crossing. The new 'Flora's Flavor' variety exhibits altered parameters compared to its parents, including improved fruit quality characteristics and modified maturity timing, while maintaining genetic stability through careful selection and asexual propagation of the optimal cross.
3Productivity
If tree vigor and productivity are increased, then commercial yield improves, but disease susceptibility may increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies composite materials by combining genetic material from two different parent varieties ('Flavorich' and '147LB395') to create a hybrid with composite characteristics. The new variety inherits vigor and productivity traits from one parent while acquiring disease resistance traits from the other, creating a genetically composite tree that balances high yield with improved disease susceptibility resistance. This genetic composite approach allows simultaneous optimization of multiple competing traits.
Data Source
AI summary
A new and distinct variety of interspecific tree. The following features of the tree and its fruit are characterized with the tree budded on ‘Nemaguard’ Rootstock (non-patented), grown on Handford sandy loam soil with Storie Index rating 95, in USDA Hardiness Zone 9, near Modesto, Calif., with standard commercial fruit growing practices, such as pruning, thinning, spraying, irrigation and fertilization. Its novelty consist of the following combination of desirable features:1. Tree having a vigorous, upright growth habit.2. Tree being a regular and productive bearer of large size, yellow flesh fruit.3. Fruit with an attractive dark purple skin color.4. Fruit with very good flavor and eating quality.5. Fruit with good storage and shipping quality.