State Cooperator Institution Location

Indiana Bruce Bordelon Purdue University West Lafayette, IN

Iowa Tom Wahl Iowa State University Wapello, IA

Kentucky Kirk Pomper Kentucky State Univ. Frankfort, KY

Kentucky Jerry Brown Univ. of Kentucky Princeton, KY

Maryland Chris Walsh Univ. of Maryland Keedysville, MD

Michigan Dennis Fulbright Michigan State Univ. Jackson, MI

Nebraska Bill Gustafson & Stan Matzke Univ. of Nebraska Lincoln, NE

New York Ian Merwin Cornell University Ithaca, NY

North Carolina Mike Parker N.C. State University Raleigh, NC

Ohio Tom Wall Ohio State University Piketon, OH

Oregon2 Kim Hummer USDA-NCGR Corvallis, OR

Anita Azarenko Oregon State University Corvallis, OR

South Carolina Greg Reighard Clemson University Clemson, SC

China2 Xi Sheng-Ke Chinese Academy of Forestry Beijing, China

China2 Hongwen Huang Chinese Academy of Sciences Wuhan, Hubei, China

Chile2 Luis Luchsinger University of Chile Santiago, Chile

Country

Kentucky State University (KYSU) has had a comprehensive pawpaw research program since 1990 directed toward developing pawpaw as a new commercial tree fruit crop for Kentucky and the United States. Current research efforts at KYSU have been directed at developing cultural recommendations (Layne 1996), improving propagation methods (Finneseth et al. 1998), culinary development (see the Commercial Potential of Pawpaw section above), and germplasm collection and molecular characterization of genetic diversity in existing cultivars (Huang et al. 1997, 1998). Germplasm collection and characterization is an important continuing mission for the pawpaw program, since KYSU is also the site of the USDA National Clonal Germplasm Repository for Asimina spp.

There is a great deal of public interest in pawpaw. KYSU usually receives hundreds of inquiries each year, from the US and around the world, from interested individuals concerning pawpaw. To help meet public interest in pawpaw, two extension bulletins have been developed and are now available from KYSU: “Cooking With Pawpaws” by Jones and Layne (1997), and “Pawpaw Planting Guide: Cultivars and Nursery Sources” by Jones et al. (1998). A web site (http://www.pawpaw.kysu.edu) has been developed to disseminate pawpaw information and it contains the above extension bulletins, updates on pawpaw research at KYSU, pawpaw photographs, a bibliography, and information on the PawPaw Foundation. This site will also serve as a medium for the delivery of new information concerning orchard culture and available genetic resources.

In 1993, the PawPaw Foundation (PPF) and Desmond Layne, former Principal Investigator of Horticulture at KYSU, embarked on a joint venture to test within pawpaw's native range many of the commercially available, named pawpaw cultivars and PPF's advanced selections. Orchards for the Regional Variety Trial (RVT) were planted in 15 different locations from Fall 1995 through Spring 1999, each consisting of 300 trees. At each RVT site, 8 replicate trees of each of the 28 grafted scion varieties will be tested in a randomized complete block design. Named cultivars that are secured for testing include: ‘Middletown’, ‘Mitchell’, ‘NC-1’, ‘Overleese’, ‘PA-Golden’, ‘Sunflower’, ‘Taylor’, ‘Taytwo’, ‘Wells’, and ‘Wilson’. The other 18 clones