Grapes Continued from Page 7
clusters beingplacedonpaper trays todry in the sun. He said the berries are bigger than those of the Thompson Seedless variety, and there are more clusters. By early August, some of the fruit was already dry and some was just starting to dry. “That’s one of the challenges of the va- riety,” Fidelibus said. “This really could be farmed pretty much like winegrapes,” he said. “Go out there with a machine, prune it, grow it, let it dry, and then go harvest it with a machine.” He said it appears to be a raisin grape variety that canbe fullymechanized from pruning to harvest. With all those promising traits, he said, “come a couple weird traits we’re trying tomanage better.” An arm of a cluster dropped to the ground and the grapes shattered. “As you can see,” Fidebilus added, “some of the fruit drops onto the ground preharvest.” In a vineyard he studied, Fidelibus tracked howmuch fell off between verai-
Researcher Matthew Fidelibus shows off Sunpreme raisin grapes at the Kearney Agricultural Research and Extension Center in Parlier.
son andharvest, about 10%. An addition- al 10% dropped during harvest, bringing the total losses to about 20%. The yield was between three and four tons per acre despite the losses. “Perhaps you need to concentrate on what you’re gett ing in the bin,” Fidelibus said. He said the losses may be “the price of doing business.” He said researchers have one year of yield data, “and it seems promising.”
Researchers are looking at growth on bilateral and quadrilateral cordons. They’re also looking at physiological processes thatmayspur thedryingprocess and examining if those can bemanaged. Sunpreme is a green raisin grape bred and patented by Ramming. Its release is being directed by USDA plant genet- icist Craig Ledbetter and his colleagues at the San Joaquin Valley Agricultural Sciences Center. So far,multiplenurseries have a license
for Sunpreme, and some are already tak- ing orders from grape producers. The f irst year of crop production was 2017. USDA has long focused on early-rip- ening grape varieties. Fiesta and Selma Pete are two examples of early-ripening raisin grapes that helped change the way California raisins are produced. (Denni s Pol lock i s a repor t er in F r e s no . He ma y b e c on t a c t e d a t agcompollock@yahoo.com.)
Feed board has 4 vacancies The Feed Inspection Advisory Board Technical Advisory Subcommittee of the California Department of Food and Agriculture has four vacancies. and nonruminant nutrition. The term of office is three years. Members receive no compensationbut areentitled topayment of necessary travel expenses.
The subcommittee provides technical andscientificadvicetotheFeedInspection Advisory Board and CDFA on animal food nutrition and safety. It also advises the CDFA Commercial Feed Regulatory Program, Livestock Drug Program and Safe Animal Feed Education Program. Applicantsmust demonstrate technical, appliedandscientificexpertise inthe fields of toxicology, pathology, and ruminant
Those interested should send a ré- sumé and a Feed TASC Prospective Member Appointment Questionnaire to Cathryn.McCandless@cdfa.ca.gov. The application deadline is Oct. 15. For more informat ion, ca l l CDFA Feed, Fertilizer and Livestock Drugs Regu l ator y Ser v i ces branch s t a f f at 916-900-5022 or visi t www.cdfa. ca.gov/is/ffldrs/Feed_FIAB.html.
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For more information, contact Wade Schirmer at (503) 793-6311 OR Contact your local crop input supplier
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8 Ag Alert September 22, 2021
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