An Overview of a Long-term Research with Alternative Fruits in the Intermountain West Region of the United States

The competitive nature of global market mandates production of fruit which are not common to a given region, and taking advantage of a niche market with higher profitability.  Alternative fruit have become extremely popular in the recent years, mainly because of their health benefits. During the past 20 years, the University of Idaho Pomology Program has experimented with several new alternative fruit crops in the Intermountain West region. As part of this effort, several varieties and selections of table grapes, quince, Asian pears, persimmons, walnuts, almonds, berries, and mulberries have been studied for adaptability and fruit quality.  Among the successful or promising types and varieties of fruit were: 'Aromatnaya’, ‘Rich’, and ‘Smyrna’ quince; ‘Kikusui and 21^st Century Asian pears; ‘Alborz’, ‘Persian Gulf’, ‘Jupiter’, and ‘Emerald’ table grapes; and “Non pareil’ and ‘Montreal’ almonds.    A number of other grapes such as ‘Fresno’, ‘Mars’, ‘Red Globe’, NY36095, and ‘Challenger’ are also suitable for small-scale markets. Seven varieties of Haskap berries (native to Japan) have also been studied under high pH conditions of South west Idaho and have shown promising results and sustained production.  ‘Fuyu’ and ‘Masumoto’ persimmons showed satisfactory performance as long as the extreme sub-freezing temperature did not exist.  Mature trees of these varieties were much more tolerant to sub-freezing temperatures than the young ones.  A large number of newer generations of alternative fruits such as black berries, pecan, walnuts, and gooseberries are being studied at the present time.