MEMBERSHIP WITHIN THE NONPAREIL MARKETING GROUP: EXAMINATION OF AN UNCLASSIFIED ACCESSION

California almonds are categorized into marketing groups based on kernel shape and appearance to facilitate promotion and sale.
Market prices for Nonpareil Marketing Group (NMG) kernels are 30% higher than for almonds in other marketing groups.
Accordingly, there is economic incentive for breeders to offer a new cultivar capable of kernel sales in the NMG. The ‘Nonpareil’ almond cultivar accounts for a majority of kernel tonnage produced in the NMG along with cultivars ‘Jeffries,’ ‘Kapareil’ and ‘Milow’. No objective standards exist to determine whether any new or unclassified cultivar should also be included in the NMG. Hence, research objectives were twofold: 1) to determine the phenotypic kernel variability of unclassified almond accession 23-122; and 2) to compare kernel misclassification of 23-122 with the four NMG cultivars.
Kernel shape and appearance variability was characterized over three harvest seasons along with cultivars from different marketing groups (‘Carmel’-California Marketing Group and ‘Padre’-Mission Marketing Group). Discriminant analyses were used to examine kernel misclassifications. ‘Carmel’ and ‘Padre’ kernels were distinguished with misclassifications less than 1%. Misclassifications among cultivars within the NMG were much higher, varying between 8.0-21.9%. A leave-one-out cross-validation procedure was used to compare kernel misclassifications between 23-122 and each NMG cultivar.
Misclassification of accession 23-122 taken as NMG kernels was only 1.4%, significantly less than any NMG cultivar, and demonstrating an inappropriate fit in the NMG. These methods provide an objective classification where newly developed or unclassified almond kernels can be compared objectively to the NMG.

VI International Symposium on Almonds and Pistachios

C.A. Ledbetter, M.S. Sisterson

almond, Prunus dulcis L., discriminant analysis, kernel shape

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2014.1028.65