SEARCHING FOR "PARADISE" IN THE AVOCADO GERMPLASM

Genetic resource collections are important to the future security of fruit industries. Without research to locate, preserve, characterize and develop these resources they will be lost to future generations of avocado (Persea americana Mili.) growers and consumers. Dwarfing rootstock programmes rely on continued access to wild germplasm and to more formal collections in field gene banks. Such research provides an economic incentive to maintain and expand these collections. Strategies and progress on characterizing traits potentially useful for identifying dwarfing genotypes in the avocado germplasm are discussed in this paper.