S-64 Fig Tree Breeding for Late Season Size Retention
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing fig tree varieties face challenges in maintaining prime-sized and quality fresh fig production throughout the season, with issues related to fruit size retention, disease susceptibility, and pollination requirements, particularly in the San Joaquin Valley of California.
Innovation Solution
The development of the 'S-64' fig tree variety, achieved through controlled hybrid cross-pollination between 'Desert King' and '91C' caprifig, resulting in a medium-sized, productive, and disease-resistant fig tree with a small fruit eye, durable skin, and exceptional flavor, which does not require pollination for fruit maturity.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Duration of action of moving object
If conventional fig varieties are grown to maintain fruit size throughout the season, then early season fruit size is good, but late season fruit size deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies parameter changes by selecting and breeding fig trees with specific genetic traits that alter the fruit size development parameter over time. The 'S-64' variety was developed through controlled cross-pollination to inherit genes that maintain fruit size parameters later into the season compared to conventional varieties, effectively changing the temporal parameter of fruit size retention.
2Reliability
If fig varieties have larger fruit eyes for natural pollination, then pollination occurs easily, but insect and disease entry is facilitated
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies the extraction principle by removing the pollination function from the fruit eye structure. The 'S-64' variety was bred to have a small, closed fruit eye that extracts the vulnerability to insects and diseases while eliminating the need for natural pollination through the eye. Pollination is achieved through alternative methods (breba crop pollination carrying over to main crop), separating the protective function from the reproductive function.
3Productivity
If fig varieties require pollination for fruit maturity, then genetic diversity is maintained, but fruit production reliability decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies segmentation by dividing the pollination process into distinct temporal and functional segments. The breba crop (first crop) is pollinated separately from the main crop (second crop). The pollinated breba crop serves as a source of pollinators that naturally transfer pollen to the main crop, segmenting the pollination events and ensuring the main crop matures reliably without requiring direct external pollination management.
Data Source
AI summary
A new and distinct variety of fig tree is disclosed, and which produces a green to yellow skinned fig fruit of the common, or persistent type, and which further has an excellent size, and which additionally holds its size later in the season than other commercial fig varieties under the ecological conditions prevailing in the San Joaquin Valley of central California.