PawPaw Patch.” Here at KSU, I have received more than 700 inquiries (phone calls, letters, e-mail) in the last 6 months alone from people across the United States seeking information about pawpaws and the availability of fruit, trees, and seeds. Many of these people have shared wonderful reminiscences of this fruit. Others express great enthusiasm and excitement upon learning that someone is finally taking an academic interest in pawpaws. One recent caller wanted to know where he could get a semi-truck load of fruit to market in downtown Los Angeles! The affection pawpaw “enthusiasts” have for this historically neglected and uniquely American native fruit is quite remarkable. Public interest has been fueled by high-profile articles in several newspapers, including The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Baltimore Sun, Detroit Free Press, Lafayette Journal and Courier, Lexington Herald Leader, Frankfort State Journal, and Windsor Star. Recent features also have been published in popular magazines, including American Horticulturist (Feb. 1995), Country America (Sept. 1995), and The Fruit Gardener (May/June and July/August 1996). I was interviewed on 5 Dec. 1995 about pawpaws by Noah Adams on National Public Radio’s daily program “All Things Considered.”

Whether curiosity, folklore, the exotic nature of the fruit and tree, or genuine commercial interest, pawpaws are beginning to gain considerable attention across the United States. This national attention is a mixed blessing. It is great exposure for promoting pawpaw’s commercial development, but we are at the infancy stage in terms of academic research and industry development (fruit production, processing, marketing, etc.) and we have only limited information for those who seek more. Scientifically based recommendations, which are a prerequisite for industry development, take many years of research to develop.

KSU has had a comprehensive research program since 1990 directed toward developing pawpaw as a new commercial tree fruit crop for Kentucky and the United States (Callaway, 1992). In Kentucky, alternative and potentially high-value cash crops, such as pawpaw, are being investigated for their production feasibility to help farmers diversify agricultural production away from tobacco. A significant obstacle in the development of any new crop is the dearth of scientific information available on how the crop grows and how best to grow the crop. In the case of pawpaw, scientifically based recommendations for commercial tree production did not exist. Much initial work by others involved adopting techniques/technologies used for other tree fruit crops, educated “best guesses,” and trial and error. We have already made considerable progress toward production of robust, healthy trees in the greenhouse (Jones et al., 1995; Layne and Kwants, 1995). Ongoing research projects at KSU include 1) determining factors that affect seed germination and seedling growth and development; 2) developing cultural recommendations for greenhouse and orchard production; 3) long-term evaluation of promising pawpaw clones and hybrids; 4) determining heritabilities for commercially important traits; and 5) characterizing the morphological and molecular variation in a diverse germplasm collection (Huang and Layne, 1996). Future efforts also will include developing techniques to 1) clonally mass-propagate desirable plants; 2) preserve diverse and promising germplasm; and 3) provide easy access to germplasm and information about germplasm, research findings, commercial recommendations, etc., to interested parties via an on-line database accessible through a World Wide Web Home Page on the Internet. These latter three objectives will be addressed by a newly funded FY95 USDA–1890 Institution Capacity Building Grant entitled “A Centralized Research Support System for Asimina Germplasm and Information,” which establishes research partnerships among the KSU Community Research Service, KSU Cooperative Extension Service, USDA [Agricultural Research Service (ARS)–National Clonal Germplasm Repository (NCGR) (Corvallis, Ore.), National Agricultural Library and Germplasm Resource Information Network (GRIN) (Beltsville, Md.)], and the Forest Service (Rhinelander, Wis.)], the Univ. of Kentucky, Stetson Univ. (DeLand, Fla.), PPF, and a private collector/breeder.

In 1994 KSU was approved by the USDA–ARS–NCGR system to serve as the national repository for Asimina spp. germplasm in the United States (as a satellite of the NCGR in Corvallis, Ore.). The current collection of germplasm consists of trees planted in orchards and growing in greenhouses, and seeds in refrigerated storage. Four orchards at KSU contain ≈2800 trees. These trees include grafted pawpaw varieties and seedlings from more than 70 distinct geographical regions of 17 states, including Arkansas, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia. Trees range in age from 2 to 4 years. None of the trees are fruiting yet, although several flowered for the first time during Spring 1995. Also planted are A. parviflora seedlings and intra- and interspecific hybrid seedlings, including A. triloba × A. triloba, A. obovata × A. triloba, A. reticulata × A. triloba, and A. parviflora × A. triloba. In Fall 1995, a Regional Variety Trial (RVT) orchard (described below) was planted. In Spring 1996, 800 intraspecific hybrids of the PPF’s advanced selections (cooperative research project with R.N. Peterson) were also field-planted. This is the largest collection of Asimina spp. germplasm in the world. We also are growing several potted specimens of the southern Asimina species, A. longifolia and A. tetramera (an endangered species), in the greenhouse. Several thousand pawpaw seeds of diverse origin as well as seed from tropical species, including Rollinia mucosa (Bail.), Annona squamosa × Annona cherimola (atemoya), and Annona squamosa, are held in cold storage. Germplasm evaluation and selection will be an ongoing, high-priority area of the KSU pawpaw research program.

In 1993, PPF and KSU 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 (Layne and Peterson, 1996). Orchards for RVT were planted in 16 different locations from Fall 1995 through Fall 1996 and consisted of 300 trees each. At each RVT site, eight 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 to be evaluated originated in PPF orchards at the Univ. of Maryland experiment stations at Wye, Md., and Keedysville, Md. Seedling trees from local native sources were planted around the perimeter as a buffer against edge effects and to allow comparisons with local germplasm.

Identical orchards will be planted at the following institutions and locations: Univ. of Arkansas, Fayetteville; Purdue Univ., West Lafayette, Ind.; Iowa State Univ., Crawfordsville; Kentucky State Univ., Frankfort; Univ. of Kentucky, Princeton; Louisiana State Univ., Calhoun; Univ. of Maryland, Keedysville; Univ. of Nebraska, Lincoln; Cornell Univ., Ithaca; North Carolina State Univ., Raleigh; Ohio State Univ., Piketon; Oregon State Univ., Corvallis—outside of native range; Clemson Univ., Clemson, S.C.; and the Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville. An orchard of nonidentical design was planted at Florida State Univ., Tallahassee. Additional sites in Connecticut and Chile are being contemplated. The Institute of Forestry, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Beijing, will be the international site.

Orchard performance to be examined at each RVT site will include climatic factors, culture, pests, growth, flowering, yield, and fruit characteristics. Trees will be evaluated for several years for yield, year-to-year consistency, regional suitability, etc. At the end of several fruiting seasons, regional recommendations will be made. Each site will serve as a regional demonstration for growers and nursery operators, and will serve public education/extension purposes. Once trees begin fruiting, annual RVT cooperator meetings will rotate from site to site for research updates and plot evaluations/tours.