http://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/orl-ag2609jan26,0,6099255.story

Research groves produce citrus of the future

Jerry W. Jackson | Sentinel Staff Writer
January 26, 2009

WINTER GARDEN - Citrus growers, fruit farmers and researchers crunched icy paths through some special west Orange County fields last week, looking for signs of damage from below-freezing temperatures early Thursday.

"We came through fine," said Mickey Page, a veteran citrus grower who watches over the A.H. Krezdorn Foundation Grove just south of Winter Garden, one of the most valuable tracts of field-grown citrus in the world.

The research grove is planted with 100 acres of some of the rarest citrus trees anywhere -- trees that University of Florida scientists and other researchers have spent more than two decades crossbreeding, nurturing and testing for new varieties that might help the state's $9 billion-a-year citrus industry survive.

Some of the low-volume, under-the-tree irrigation techniques that now help citrus growers fend off frigid temperatures in Central Florida without the need for expensive fuel heaters, were pioneered here in these sandy, rolling hills. A long night of irrigation with 72-degree reclaimed water from the nearby Conserv II wastewater-distribution plant kept the hardy plants from the worst damage by sealing out the sub-32-degree temperatures that blanketed much of the county.

The full extent of any crop damage will take days to determine, but most of the region's commercial citrus had already been picked, and any fruit that did freeze in more-northern groves can be salvaged quickly for use in juice-making plants, which are busy squeezing the state's best-known farm crop.

When the threat of freezing weather was forecast last week, the state temporarily lifted truck-weight limits for citrus and other perishable crops being rushed in from the fields.

At the west Orange test grove, researchers with razor-sharp knives cut into the bright, orange fruit, looking for ice crystals that could burst and damage the crop. "I haven't seen any," said Jude Grosser, a scientist with UF's Citrus Research and Education Center at Lake Alfred.

Grosser and fellow researcher Fred Gmitter are pioneers in advanced genetic research on citrus in Central Florida, and some of the trees they checked Thursday hold considerable promise to boost profits for Florida growers and open new markets.

Some are advanced crossbreeds of the Valencia orange, the venerable, leading juice variety worldwide, and these new types produce harvestable fruit weeks earlier than the old breeds. Another citrus fruit, called the Sugar Belle, the university has applied to patent. The tangy orange hybrid is not yet commercially available but could be in stores in limited quantities within a few years.

"I've fed some of these Sugar Belles to old-time citrus folks," Gmitter said as he plucked a plump one from a tree. "They've told me it's the best-tasting piece of fruit they have ever tasted. That doesn't go in the record book, but it means a lot."