With Florida's citrus industry declining, it's important for growers to have robust backup crops to prevent financial loss. Dr. Zhanao Deng and his team with the University of Florida are decoding blackberry DNA to help Floridian growers.
Traits like size, sweetness, and disease resistance are in the DNA of blackberries. By extracting DNA from different types of the fruit, UF pieced together new blackberry DNA sequences to create new varieties.
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Further details on Dr. Deng's research into blackberry DNA can be seen here
"DNA is the determining factor for all of these traits that are important to growers and consumers," Deng said.
Most commercial blackberry varieties do not yield well in Florida, making this research even more important for citrus growers that need backup crops. No new varieties have reached shelves yet, but are being tasted by industry collaborators.
"We can use this tool, these new resources, to speed up our development of new blackberry varieties that can grow better in Florida's conditions," Deng said.
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