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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Kearneysville, West Virginia » Appalachian Fruit Research Laboratory » Innovative Fruit Production, Improvement, and Protection » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #329940
Title: Dealing with frost damage and climate change in tree fruit crops

Author
item Wisniewski, Michael
item Artlip, Timothy - Tim
item Norelli, John

Submitted to: New York State Fruit Quarterly
Publication Type: Popular Publication
Publication Acceptance Date: 8/10/2016
Publication Date: 8/30/2016
Citation: Wisniewski, M.E., Artlip, T.S., Norelli, J.L. 2016. Dealing with frost damage and climate change in tree fruit crops. New York State Fruit Quarterly. 24(3):25-28.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Each year, the U.S. produces about 15 million tons of deciduous fruit crops that have a combined value of >$10 billion. Unpredictable cold damage to these nutritionally important crops is a major threat to industry profitability. Over the last six years, cold damage has accounted for almost half of the total value of insurance payments for crop loss to growers of the top five deciduous fruits. Programs of research at the USDA-ARS, Appalachian Fruit Research Station, Kearneysville, WV, have focused on both understanding the regulation and promotion of supercooling to avoid freezing and understanding the genetic mechanisms that regulate freezing tolerance and dormancy. The overexpression of a CBF master regulator gene in apple can be used as a model system to better understand the genetic regulation of freezing tolerance, dormancy, and growth. Knowledge of these processes can lead to the development of strategies to adapt fruit trees to erratic weather patterns brought about by ongoing climate change.