The Zaiger's Genetics Story

A Family Organized to Improve Fruit Worldwide

Zaiger's Inc. Genetics of Modesto, California, is a Family Organized to Improve Fruit Worldwide. Floyd and Betty Zaiger, joined by their daughter Leith Gardner and sons Gary and Grant, have achieved global prominence for their robust fruit and rootstock breeding program.
         
Zaiger varieties introduced over the last four decades have made important contributions to both commercial and home garden fruit culture in the U.S. and abroad. Zaiger varieties produce millions of boxes of fruit each year in the U.S., Europe, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand and South America.

Agricultural research agencies, nurseries and growers in more than a dozen countries around the world have entered into contracts with Zaiger's Genetics to receive new selections as they are released. Dave Wilson Nursery is proud of its privileged position as licensor and primary propagator of varieties developed by Zaiger Inc Genetics.

In recognition of his contributions to varietal improvement, Floyd Zaiger has received numerous prestigious awards over the years including the Wilder Medal from the American Pomological Society (1995), an Award of Distinction (1999) and Distinguished Achievement award (2001) from the University of California, and the Horticultural Achievement award from the California Association of Nurseries (2001). In 1997, the French government advanced Floyd from Chevalier (awarded in 1981) to Officier in the Order du Merit Agricole, equivalent to receiving knighthood in the U.K. In 2004, Floyd Zaiger was inducted into the Stanislaus County Hall of Fame.

 

A Prolific Program

Each year the Zaigers plant tens of thousands of new seedlings, each tree the result of a controlled cross of two parent trees from their vast inventory of breeding stock. Promising selections from the primary seedling blocks are advanced for further evaluation by propagating the varieties onto rootstocks in secondary orchards. The cream-of-the-crop varieties in the secondary orchards are evaluated each week during the fruit season by a team comprised of Zaiger's Inc. Genetics personnel, industry experts and Dave Wilson Nursery representatives. Advanced selections are concurrently established in our Reedley test orchard for evaluation under local conditions.

 

Innovative Technicians

Parent trees for seed and pollen are maintained in movable containers, a Zaiger innovation that allows the Zaigers to accomplish a very large number of crosses each spring. Application of pollen to seed-bearing stock (making a cross) can continue during inclement weather and the technique makes possible a wider range of crosses by advancing or delaying the bloom of parent trees that normally do not bloom at the same time. Test tube embryo culture is employed to grow seedlings of very early-maturing varieties of which the seeds will only germinate in vitro. Indexing on biological indicators and heat treatment are employed to detect and eliminate virus.

 

A Leader in White-Fleshed and Low Acid Varieties

In 1968, during a visit to Europe, Floyd noticed that white-fleshed peach and nectarine varieties were priced higher than standard yellow-fleshed varieties. On his return to Modesto, Floyd started to develop white-fleshed varieties for the European market. Over the next two decades, the percentage of white-fleshed varieties increased relative to yellow-fleshed selections, until the number of white peach and nectarine trees sold in France actually exceeded the quantity sold of yellow-fleshed varieties.

In the early 1990's, when California growers became interested in growing white-fleshed fruit for Asian markets, Dave Wilson Nursery was able to take advantage of the many years the Zaigers had already invested in the development of varieties for Europe. For this new market, the emphasis in the Zaiger breeding strategy was broadened to include varieties with low sugar-to-acid ratio, preferred by the Asian market at that time. Zaiger varieties now comprise an overwhelming majority of white-fleshed peach and nectarine plantings in California.

The Zaigers are also pioneers in the breeding of low acid yellow-fleshed peaches and nectarines. In the Fruit Tasting Seminars conducted by Dave Wilson Nursery, we have noticed that young people prefer fruit that is firm rather than soft-ripe. With their lower sugar-to-acid balance when firm-ripe, the new low acid peach and nectarine varieties developed by the Zaigers are ideal for today's marketplace.

 

Rootstocks

Interspecific hybrids now play an important role in the development of new rootstocks, with some new selections combining as many as four species. For example, Viking, Atlas & Citation rootstocks are interspecifics derived from a combination of apricot, peach, almond and plum. Floyd's initial interspecific rootstock release, Citation, a peach/plum hybrid whose patent is now expired, has become a standard rootstock in California for Pluot® and Aprium® trees as well as for standard plums and apricots.

 

History

Floyd Zaiger graduated from the University of California at Davis with a degree in Plant Pathology and a teaching credential for vocational agriculture. He then taught at Livermore and Modesto high schools and Modesto Junior College. Floyd and Betty purchased a 2-1/2 acre nursery in 1954, where they established a residence and started to grow and breed heat tolerant azaleas. In 1956 and '57 he served an apprenticeship with Fred Anderson, an early fruit and nut breeder widely recognized as "the father of the nectarine." Working with Fred, Floyd, in his own phrase "caught the disease" of fruit breeding — an interest which developed into a lifelong obsession.

In the early years, he leased individual trees from local growers and hybridized directly on those trees. He established a relationship with Dave Wilson Nursery by delivering and selling surplus trees along with azaleas and other nursery stock in the San Francisco Bay area.

Initially, Floyd concentrated on advancing maturity and lowering the chilling requirements of peaches and nectarines for commercial growers. He developed innovative techniques for fruit breeding such as growing his breeding stock in containers and moving the trees into a greenhouse or cold storage. This enabled him to achieve "wider" crosses and work in inclement weather, increasing the efficiency of his operation and allowing a greater number of crosses per year. In the early 1960's, he patented and released his first varieties to the U.S. and France: Royal Gold peach and Crimson Gold nectarine.

 

Zaiger Varieties Today (1993/2009)

Decades after their first introductions, Zaiger varieties currently form an integral part of the tree fruit industry here and abroad. A California Tree Fruit Agreement (CTFA) summary of commercial nectarine, peach and plum tree orchard plantings for the past six years in California lists 46 Zaiger varieties. The 1993 CTFA Annual Report shows approximately 3-1/2 million boxes of Zaiger varieties were packed in California in 1993.

In Europe, a French nursery catalog celebrating 47 years collaboration with the Zaigers lists 30 peaches and nectarines developed by the Zaigers. The same nursery has reported that their sales of white-fleshed peaches and nectarines, which are practically all Zaiger introductions, for the first time exceeded the sale of yellow fleshed varieties in Europe. Zaiger varieties have become a major segment of the fruit growing industries in Australia, Chile, Spain and South Africa as well.

Taking advantage of their several generations of crosses made to improve white-fleshed peaches and nectarines for Europe, Zaiger Genetics was able to respond quickly to the growing interest in white varieties in the U.S. These introductions have extended the season for white fleshed fruit, and their increased firmness and storage life have expanded markets for a type of fruit traditionally considered too delicate to withstand commercial handling.

Since the Zaiger introduction of the Pluot® and Aprium®, interspecific plums and apricots respectively, they continue to maintain a lead position in the world for development of interspecifics.

Other exotic combinations are under development, such as Peacotum™ (peach/apricot/plum hybrids), white apricots, flat peaches and nectarines, albino selections and fuzzy plums.

In addition to new varieties of Aprium®, Pluot®, and rootstock interspecifics already mentioned, the Zaigers are developing new complex hybrids such as fuzzy plums, peach/apricot/plum combinations and new rootstock interspecifics which may, when used as interstems, allow cherries to be grown on standard rootstocks normally used for other stone fruit.

New selections currently under development include:

• varieties with low winter chilling requirements,
• dwarf and semi-dwarf varieties,
• dwarfing rootstocks and extremely vigorous semi-dwarfing rootstocks,
• nematode and disease-resistant rootstocks,
• extra-early and extra-late-ripening varieties,
• low acid/high flavor white-fleshed peaches and nectarines,
• low acid/high flavor experimental varieties,
• Asian and European pear hybrids,
• apples, red pears, canning clingstone peaches,
• prunes with improved dry-away and very high sugar content,
• canning and drying apricots,
• extra-large and very-late-shipping apricots, and
• fruiting varieties with enhanced ornamental qualities such as showy double flowers.

 

Nursery Sources of Zaiger Varieties

In the United States, Dave Wilson Nursery is the primary propagator and licensor of varieties developed by Zaiger's Inc. Genetics. The nursery growing grounds and main office are located near Modesto, California. We also maintain a regional sales, tree distribution and variety testing facility in Reedley, near Fresno, California. Dave Wilson Nursery sells Zaiger varieties to commercial growers and garden centers throughout the western U.S.

Zaiger varieties for the home garden are available through retail stores across the United States.

International introduction of Zaiger varieties is administered by Zaiger's Inc. Genetics through their licensees in Australia, New Zealand, France, Spain, Morocco, Israel, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, and South Africa.

(Pluot® and Aprium® are federally registered trademarks of Zaiger's Inc. Genetics, Modesto, CA, for interspecifics that are complex hybrids of plum and apricot.)