In Pursuit of a Better Pecan Cultivar

Abstract

Pecan [Carya illinoensis(Wangenh.) K. Koch] nut yields are low. Except for initial cultivar selections made in the early 1900’s, a long-term increase in marketable yield by cultivar improvement has not been documented. Failure of most of the many pecan cultivars is proposed to be due to inadequate testing, overemphasis of precocity and prolificacy, and low market value of the nut. Because pecan fruits are not chemically or mechanically thinned, excessive prolificness and resulting poor nut quality is apparently the predominant reason for failure. The proposal is made that for long-term success, a cultivar should be precocious, but not prolific, and have maximum nut market value (large, early maturing nut, good cracking and shelling characteristics, and a light colored kernel). The vast gene pool in pecan offers the opportunity to engineer a cultivar that will produce nut yields greater than ‘Desirable’s’ (an outstanding cultivar) and maintain the same market value of the nut, or maintain ‘Desirable’s’ yield but increase market nut value, or both. Breeding strategies for obtaining these objectives are proposed.