Author Topic: UF Australian Lime Improvement Program  (Read 1217 times)

Piss P

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UF Australian Lime Improvement Program
« on: August 03, 2022, 09:07:59 AM »
Hey All,

Here is a great resource from a recent research symposium out of UF: https://australianlimes.ifas.ufl.edu/

Great information and videos/talks - you can also see the two new varieties recently released (UF SunLime & UF RedLime)

pp

pagnr

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Re: UF Australian Lime Improvement Program
« Reply #1 on: August 04, 2022, 05:34:18 PM »
Thanks for that. Are both those releases hybrids ? Wondering what the parents are ?
Guessing red fingerlime but one fruit looks like M.inodora too.
Also the Citrus parent ?

Piss P

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Re: UF Australian Lime Improvement Program
« Reply #2 on: August 18, 2022, 03:00:22 PM »
Good eye - SunLime has c. inodora as a parent. I found more info here:
https://patents.justia.com/patent/PP34493
https://patents.justia.com/patent/PP34188

franklazar26

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Re: UF Australian Lime Improvement Program
« Reply #3 on: August 18, 2022, 10:10:25 PM »
This is awesome! Great to see something new being pushed out.

pagnr

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Re: UF Australian Lime Improvement Program
« Reply #4 on: August 19, 2022, 05:16:33 AM »
Thats interesting, both are Microcitrus X Microcitrus hybrids.
Also UF Red is possibly the only type of Red Fingerlime, australasica var sanguinea resulting from crossing and selection.
I think all the Fingerlime cultivars in Australia are straight selections from the wild.

Piss P

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Re: UF Australian Lime Improvement Program
« Reply #5 on: August 19, 2022, 10:06:49 AM »
Thats interesting, both are Microcitrus X Microcitrus hybrids.
Also UF Red is possibly the only type of Red Fingerlime, australasica var sanguinea resulting from crossing and selection.
I think all the Fingerlime cultivars in Australia are straight selections from the wild.

Has Judy Viola gone into much detail about the process of producing/finding the many varieties she has put out? The few details I find online about her work simply state that they are "collected in the field", or something to that effect. It is fascinating to me that there would be that much diversity in the wild without any breeding and/or human intervention. 

pagnr

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Re: UF Australian Lime Improvement Program
« Reply #6 on: August 19, 2022, 06:39:41 PM »
I have been to the Mt Tambourine area a couple times. Also I lived in Nth NSW for a short time.
The wild diversity of fruit size, skin colour, pulp colour, flavour combinations is very large.
If you look at a website of cultivated types, you are seeing mainly larger fruiting types, with clean skin / pulp colour combinations.
Also nice flavours are selected. The wild flavours range through lime, lemon, grapefruit, berry, etc
Smaller fruiting types ( more common ) aren't collected. Also some wild types have very sour fruit, not pleasant.
Many people live adjacent to the rainforest in both areas, and simply found large fruiting Fingerlimes on their property.
Others must have actively searched them out.
There have been a few disputes about who found what, etc.
Sadly there have been extensive bushfires in the NSW/QLD border Rainforest areas in the last few years.
The wild diversity of many species has been threatened.
Another interesting question is why are Fingerlimes so variable ?
Obviously the fruit must attract something for dispersal. They are similar colours and shaped to many fruit eaten by the Nth Qld Cassowary.
A fossil Cassowary species has been found in NSW, but they no longer occur outside the Wet Tropics and Cape York and PNG.


citrange

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Re: UF Australian Lime Improvement Program
« Reply #7 on: August 24, 2022, 04:06:20 PM »
In the UK and many countries outside USA it is not possible to patent plants because they are not considered to be inventions. Instead 'plant breeder rights' can be registered for new cultivars. The first person to be given plant breeder rights over a microcitrus variety was Erika Birmingham of Byron Bay Nurseries in Australia. She became quite paranoid about the possibility that native Australian citrus would be exploited overseas, as happened with Macademia nuts. The inevitable has now happened and her concerns have been proved correct.
It is interesting to note that the name SunLime is very similar to the Australian registered Sunrise Lime. This variety and the Red Centre Lime (previously Blood Lime) have had very limited commercial success in Australia. I suspect this is because they are basically an acidic fruit which can be used as an ingredient or garnish but are not very desirable to eat as they are.
I have been growing microcitrus for many years and have produced several interesting hybrids. Saga University in Japan also experimented with such hybrids some years ago. Details of some of these are available on my website at http://www.homecitrusgrowers.co.uk/australiannativecitrus/sagauniversityhybrids.html

pagnr

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Re: UF Australian Lime Improvement Program
« Reply #8 on: August 24, 2022, 04:47:34 PM »
I suspect this is because they are basically an acidic fruit which can be used as an ingredient or garnish but are not very desirable to eat as they are.

This also illustrates the problem of plant breeding aiming to get a patentable outcome.
These were released mainly because they could be patented.
Both the Sunrise and Blood Lime are OK cultivars.
The Sunrise is more like a Kumquat, and not as good as a true Kumquat. Soon after it was intro'd it was found to suffer from limb dieback in plantations.
The Bloodlime can't compare in flavour to most true Fingerlimes. Personally I find it better at the green to colour break stage as a lime, not at the red stage.
It is visually impressive at the red stage, and can be quite large. A fully fruiting tree is very striking.
Some years ago I attended a Horticulture field day in Australia and saw some of the F2 generation Blood Limes.
Overall I thought they looked like those European Finger Lime cultivars we see on websites. Odd shaped and knobbly.
I think they were shelved when the Citrus breeding program closed and the Arboretum cleared.
Not sure how they got a patent on the C.glauca Outback Lime ? I don't think any breeding was involved in that.
Most of these hybrids are off the radar these days, also the patents must be expired after 20 years has passed ??
It was mentioned to me recently that there is only about total 4 Hectares of land cultivating Fingerlimes for the fruit in Australia, among the various growers.