A team from the Institut de Recerca i Tecnologia Agroalimentàries (IRTA) is working to register a new variety of almond that is more productive and resilient to climate change.
Named 'Divina', it has been obtained from the classic genetic improvement of previous varieties that are currently already present on the market.
Among the characteristics of this almond, the person responsible for the IRTA almond tree improvement program, Ignasi Batlle, highlights the later flowering, the ability to self-fertilize, the quality of the fruit and the resistance it offers against drought conditions.
After half a century of research, the project now faces the last step before commercializing the new variety, which could take up to eight years.
For now, IRTA has four varieties of almonds on the market and has a dozen selected specimens, of which it is committed to registering a new variety, which will be named 'Divina'.
The research is based on classical genetics, through a method that pollinates an almond flower with two previously selected parents, extracts the seed and germinates it.
Finally, it is planted in an experimental farm located in Mas Bové de Constantí (Tarragonès) and is monitored to determine its qualities.
Each year, the organization produces about 5,000 seeds but only between 1 and 2% are selected.
To avoid being discarded by researchers, the new almond trees must meet a series of requirements; One of the determining factors is maintaining productivity in conditions of drought or less irrigation, a key element in a context of climate change.
In this way, the IRTA almond trees that pass the selection phases are those that produce a minimum of 1,500 kilos of grain per hectare and year. Other elements are added to the list, such as the plants' ability to be self-compatible or the quality of the dried fruit.
This is the case of the 'Divina' selection, with which researchers have managed to delay flowering up to two months, at the beginning of April. With this advance, the person in charge of the IRTA almond tree improvement program, Ignasi Batlle, trusts that episodes of frost that damage the flowers and therefore the harvest of this crop can be avoided. At this time, the project is in its last phase, the registration phase, which could take three years.
According to IRTA, we will have to wait between seven and eight years before it can be marketed and used by farmers.
Before being registered, other tests of the adaptability of this specimen of 'Divina' almond tree are pending beyond the Mas Bové lands, in other climatological conditions. Thus, the planting and monitoring of this selection has begun in other farms where this crop is usually grown, such as the Ebro Valley, Castilla la Mancha, Andalusia, Extremadura and the Levante area.
Regarding the quality of the dried fruit, consumer tastings and trained panels have already been launched to determine both the quality and the reception that this new almond could have among potential buyers.
In the case of consumer tastings, participants must rate the different samples provided blindly, while trained panel members must evaluate the almonds using a standardized value scale.
All of this allows us to detect possible defects in the fruits and at the same time test the response of future customers to the new product, as noted by postdoctoral nut researcher Leontina Lipan.
"We work for farmers, but thinking about consumers. The agronomic part is aimed at the farmer and the quality part at the consumer, in the end both benefit, it is a symbiosis," Batlle remarked.
