Question 1

Why do we need new varieties of plants?

Accepted Answer

New plant varieties play a pivotal role in addressing agricultural challenges. They enhance crop productivity, combat pests and diseases, adapt to changing environmental conditions, and contribute to economic prosperity. Additionally, new varieties may taste better, last longer, or be healthier than existing varieties, making them indispensable assets for farmers and consumers alike!

Question 2

How do you breed new varieties of plants?

Accepted Answer

We can create new plant varieties by doing the same thing that humans have been using for thousands of years - finding the best plants and saving their seeds!

Plant breeders start by selecting individual plants that have superior characteristics and allowing them to pollinate each other. The resulting seeds from that pollination, or 'cross', display a combination of the traits of each parents. Breeders then grow those seeds into plants and examine each one to find an indivual with the best combination of traits from the parents.

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When a plant is found that has great flavor, quality, yield, and growing characteristics, breeders may decide to release it as a named variety. In a crop like pawpaw, that means  grafting a branch from our new variety onto the roots of seed-grown pawpaw seedlings and distributing them to growers and gardeners.

Question 3

Where does the funding for Project Pawpaw come from?

Accepted Answer

Project Pawpaw is funded by the people, for the people! 100% of proceeds from the sale of merchandise and seedlings go towards supporting research and breeding objectives. We're also in the process of applying for grant funding to help us take on bigger, more ambitious projects!

Question 4

Will these new varieties be GMOs?

Accepted Answer

Nope! We'll be using traditional plant breeding, just like humans have been doing for thousands of years!

Here is how we do it:
1) Choose one parent that has desirable traits and allow it to pollinate another parent with desirable traits to make a fruit
2) Grow the seeds from that fruit into trees and screen through the offspring to find individuals that have the best combination of traits from the parents
3) Repeat this many times, until you find a tree with all of the traits you are breeding for!
4) Distribute scionwood or grafted trees of your new variety to farmers for field trials in different environments, and then (hopefully) distribute to growers and gardeners

Question 5

When will new varieties be released?

Accepted Answer

Thats a tough question. To breed a new variety of apple, it typically takes about 15 years in an etablished and well funded program. We are starting from scratch, but we also have the advantage of being able to use some modern tools and technology to speed things up!  While we work on breeding the next big pawpaw variety, we'll be sharing results from our research projects about the best ways to grow, harvest, and store pawpaws as well as working with other organizations to develop a market for pawpaw fruit and give growers the tools they need to be sucessful. It's a long process, so we'd better start now!

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