Late spring frosts can become one of the limiting factors for expansion cultivation area towards a harsher climate almond [Prunus amygdalus Batsch syn P. dulcis (Mill.) D.A. Webb] crop as frost damage up to 90% harvest. In order identify key genes favoring cold tolerance in almonds, branches from three late-blooming genotypes: ‘Guara’, ‘Soleta’ and ‘Belona’ were exposed at −4 °C during 24 h con...

Pollination is critical to fruit production, but the interactions of pollination with plant resources on a plant's reproductive and vegetative features are largely overlooked. We examined the influences of pollination, irrigation and fertilisation on the performance of almond, Prunus dulcis, in northern California. We used a full-factorial design to test for the effects of pollination limitatio...

One of the suggested approaches to mitigate chronic groundwater depletion in California is agricultural managed aquifer recharge (Ag-MAR), which farmland flooded using excess surface water order underlying aquifer. Successful implementation Ag-MAR projects requires careful estimation soil aeration status, as prolonged saturated conditions rhizosphere can damage crops due O2 deficiency. We studi...

Noninfectious bud-failure (BF) remains a major threat to almond production in California, particularly with the recent rapid expansion of acreage and as more intensive cultural practices and modern cultivars are adopted. BF has been shown to be inherited in both vegetative and sexual progeny, with exhibition related to the age and propagation history of scion clonal sources. These characteristi...

Kernels of Nonpareil almond and advanced breeding selections 23.5–16 and 23–122 were evaluated for similarities and differences in commercially important kernel characteristics. These three almond types did not differ in kernel mass, kernel length and width, nor in kernel color coordinates, luminosity and hue. Nonpareil kernels were observed to be significantly (p 6 0.05) thicker than kernels o...

Researchers are currently developing new value-added uses for almond shells, an abundant agricultural by-product. Almond varieties are distinguished by processors as being either hard or soft shelled, but these two broad classes of almond also exhibit varietal diversity in shell morphology and physical characters. By defining more precisely the physical and chemical characteristics of almond sh...