Rooted In Research

SEVERAL The IFTA's Rootstock Research Committee has provided the tree fruit industry with 30 years of valuable information and cutting-edge research.

IN 1976, the then-Dwarf Fruit Tree Association founded the Rootstock Research Committee (RRC) with the objective of stimulating more rootstock research at fruit tree research stations nationwide. At that time, 70% of annual member dues were dedicated to assisting researchers working toward new and better dwarf fruit tree rootstock.

Today, the committee is still going strong as part of a subcommittee of the board of directors of the International Fruit Tree Association. While it doesn't receive even close to 70% of member dues, its funding is still very substantial and is supplemented by private donations from growers, state associations, and other individuals in the fruit growing industry.

The RRC includes nine fruit growers and nurserymen, seven researchers, and two ex-officio board members of IFTA. The committee sets guidelines for researchers who are preparing research proposals; prepares application forms for research funding, which are sent to several states, Canada, and Mexico; and critically screens the project proposals that are submitted by researchers.

RRC Chairman Gary Mount, who owns Terhune Orchards in Princeton, NJ, has been on the committee for 15 years. "It's a very good committee - one I like to be on. People are really thinking there," he says. "Many of us on the committee are not technical people so we rely heavily on the researchers. I admire them very much for the efforts that they make. We have a very active group from the nurseries, as well, and they are great to have because they know the ins and outs of viably propagating and producing the rootstock."

The committee recommends research grants to the IFTA board of directors, which then votes on and awards money to researchers. Much of the RRC-funded research is published in IFTA's Compact Fruit Tree journal, which is printed three times annually in April, August, and December. Research findings also are presented at the annual IFTA Conference.

Research grants from IFTA often open doors to other research money, Mount says. "A researcher can take our award and leverage it many times over," he says. "Often researchers will go to their universities and other industry groups and say, 'This is what the growers are willing to fund right out of their own pockets. This is very important.' Our awards often help them secure additional support."

Changing Research Priorities
Depending on funds available, IFTA approves about half of the projects submitted annually. Generally, research projects have dealt with precocity, tree culture, and training; however, as the industry changes, demand for additional research has seen the organization stepping away from only rootstock-driven research.

"In truth, the direction of the committee has broadened and it's not just focused on rootstocks," Mount says. "We still have the main focus of the tree, but we're also looking at disease resistance and cold hardiness - it's more related to the whole compact fruit tree."

Primarily research has been focused on apples, pears, and cherries, but Mount says he hopes peaches will be a focus in the future. Cherries have become a big research area for the committee in recent years, with a great deal of support from cherry rootstock producers. One of last year's funded projects was high-density planting systems for cherries to determine the best way to grow dwarf cherry trees.

"We certainly have had a big change with the advent of the Gisela cherry rootstocks, and the Gisela folks have been funding a lot of research and asking us to review the proposals by giving us the money to reward," Mount says. "The Gisela group, who own the patents for the rootstocks, has been remarkable because they have made a multiple year commitment of this funding for research on cherry rootstocks. They are plowing money back into the cherry industry, really making it better for all of us. It's really quite far-sighted."

Some other examples of RRC-funded research include the effect of different types of irrigation, as well as production systems such as the effects of high tunnel systems on minimizing cracking in cherry production.

RRC has also been a leading sponsor for the NC-140 Multi-State Research Committee, which has been evaluating standard rootstocks and new introductions for 30 years. The regional rootstock research project tests, screens, and develops new fruit tree rootstock clones. In addition to conducting their own rootstock research, many IFTA researchers work closely with the NC-140 project, measuring tree growth and fruit quality and yield from their own research plots. That data is then collated by a project leader, analyzed, and presented.

"It's very difficult for the researchers who compile that information to get local funding because it's such a broad-based, general project for industry-wide testing, so we have for many years sponsored the compilation and presentation of those results," Mount says. "It's important because not every rootstock does well in every area of the country."