After extensive research spanning over six decades, the Israeli avocado industry developed avocado rootstocks that have not only tested but also pushed the boundaries of where avocados can successfully be grown across the world.
Native to the Americas, avocados primarily evolved in three distinct geographical regions: the West Indies, Guatemala, and Mexico.
While in Mexico, avocados evolved in the hilly regions, therefore Mexican race is generally considered to be more cold-tolerant.
Whereas in the West Indies, avocados evolved in the plains, and therefore, the West Indian race is generally more tolerant of warmer climates.
Lastly, Guatemalan avocados were more sporadically distributed across the country. Therefore, the Guatemalan race developed traits that offered some degree of tolerance to both cold and saline conditions.
Naturally, when Dr. Avraham Ben-Ya’acov began his work on avocados in Israel, the key concern was how to grow them in semi-arid regions where both the soil and water demonstrated higher salinity due to the lack of consistent rainfall in the region.
The challenge of improving the health of the population of a newly founded country, still recovering from the aftermath of World War II, inspired Dr. Ben-Ya’acov to embark on a journey to find the right rootstocks that could thrive under Israeli conditions.
Fuelled by the Kibbutzim movement, avocado cultivation started spreading across the rural regions of the Jordan Valley in Israel. From there, it spread across the country. Recognising its immense health benefits, the Israeli government, as well as the Kibbutz seniors, supported its research and development.
To tackle the problems of saline conditions, high pH, calcareous soils, and a semi-arid climate, Dr. Ben-Ya’acov, Dr. Roberto Nathan, and others introduced West Indian races of avocado in different Kibbutzim, such as Degania Alef, Ma’agan, Beit Zera, and the rural regions surrounding the city of Ashdod.
Research and trials were conducted through controlled experiments to determine which West Indian avocado seedlings demonstrated tolerance to semi-arid conditions and consistently produced high yields.
Crossbred F0 seeds of West Indian race avocados were planted in rural Israel. These were research orchards. After years of trial and error, certain trees were selected because of their desirable traits, commercial output, and tolerance to diseases such as Verticillium wilt.
These trees were then propagated, and rootstock mother blocks were established. Of course, these were the intellectual property of their respective Kibbutzim. The Israeli avocado industry developed on the back of these selected rootstocks.
Primarily, commercial varieties such as Pinkerton and Ettinger, grafted onto the following rootstocks, were requested time and again by growers from nursery owners:
- Ashdot 17
- Degania 117
- Ziffrin 99
- Fairchild
Over the years, F1-generation seeds produced from the above-mentioned F0-generation rootstock mother plants were exported across the world to countries such as South Africa, Peru, Chile, Australia, and the United States (California), and more recently to Spain, Portugal, and China, because of their superior genetics and excellent results.
However, intellectual property rights have an expiry date. All the aforementioned rootstocks have now become open varieties.
It just so happens that the pioneer of the Indian avocado industry has these F0 rootstock mother plants. And as luck would have it, these mother plants have now matured and borne fruit. Therefore, they can now be propagated.
So, if you are interested in developing a large-scale avocado orchard, these F0 mother plants, along with a nursery, are essential for building a local cluster of avocado farming.
If you are interested in purchasing these plants, you can get in touch with us at indoisraelavocado@gmail.com.
