Searching for the Next Pawpaw Cultivar: An Update On Germplasm Screening at Kentucky State University

The North American pawpaw [Asimina triloba (L.) Dunal] is a tree-fruit that is in the early stages of commercial production. Pawpaw fruit have fresh market appeal for farmers’ markets, community supported agriculture, and organic markets, as well as processing potential for frozen pulp production. New high yielding cultivars with excellent fruit quality would assist in the development of a pawpaw industry. Kentucky State University (KSU) serves as the National Clonal Germplasm Repository for pawpaw, and germplasm evaluation is an important research priority.  The KSU selection K8-2 is a seedling from Maryland that has undergone evaluation at KSU over the last 10 years. This selection has been stably propagated via budding from the original K8-2 tree onto seedling rootstocks. Yield and fruiting characteristics of mature K8-2 trees were compared to commercially available pawpaw cultivars. In May of 2000, trees of K8-2, and the pawpaw cultivars ‘PA-Golden’ and ‘Mitchell’ were planted at the KSU Research and Demonstration Farm in three replicated blocks. Trunk cross-sectional area (TCA), yield, yield efficiency, and fruit weights were recorded in 2009. Tree size, as measured by TCA, was similar for trees of all cultivars. The selection K8-2 (33 kg), ‘PA-Golden’ (29 kg), and ‘Mitchell’ (29 kg) displayed similar yields per tree. Average fruit weight for K8-2 (109 g) was significantly greater than either ‘PA-Golden’ (79 g) or ‘Mitchell’ (64 g). The selection K8-2 is being released to the public. Additional pawpaw accessions have been selected for a regional trial in 2011 and will be discussed.