Breeding Program for American Persimmons

Malissa Tipton - Biology and Pre-Health

Dr. Hank Stevens-  Biology, Ecology Research Center,  Miami Ecological Big Data Initiative, Institute for the Environment and Sustainability  

Nanci Ross- Ethobotany

Jacob Woodward- Biology 

Diospyros virginiana, also known as the American persimmon, is a fruit tree native to the Eastern United States. Within the genus Diospyros is the Asiatic Persimmon (D. kaki), which is commercially available. However, the American species is not commercially available because they are difficult to ship, produce tannic/astringent fruit, and have an unappealing look because they bruise easily. This makes the American Persimmon lack commercial viability. Though closely related, Diospyros kaki has more desirable traits, making it a more suitable, commercially viable fruit. Some desirable traits include size, taste, and fertility. 

This project's goal is to introduce a breeding program that might make the American persimmon a more widely used, commercially viable fruit by breeding some already established cultivars that have desirable traits to make the “perfect” American persimmon.

Question 1: How can we make American Persimmons a better, commercially viable product? 

Question 2: What makes a popular persimmon? 

We first conducted a literature review and an internet survey of Asiatic and American persimmon cultivars.  Then, I examined the demand for persimmons in relation to other commercially available, popular fruits imported globally using USDA fruit trade data. The fruits compared are apricot, banana, and peach. This was to give a comparative trait assessment of other fruits and persimmons to determine popular fruit traits across commercially available species. For the breeding program, these traits were compared with a list of American Persimmon cultivars (Ames, 2001) aggregated with internet survey data of trait characteristics, to determine the best species to be used for inducing desirable traits. Care was taken to breed more closely related cultivars together first, to establish and not breed out desirable fruit traits.  

 According to the USDA, 3.4 million pounds of persimmons were imported into the United States in 2025. This number is significantly lower than for the other fruits: bananas: 10.4 billion pounds; apricots: 82.67 million pounds; and peaches: 319.1 million pounds. Looking at the exports, the difference remains significant. The amount of persimmons exported in 2025 was 8.53 million. Compared to the three fruits: bananas, 50.3 million pounds; apricots, 13.6 million pounds; peaches, 137.8 million pounds. For the value of imports in 2025, persimmons were valued at 16.3 million dollars, bananas at 2.7 billion dollars, apricots at 11.4 million dollars, and peaches at 238.4 million dollars. For exports, persimmons: 8.4 million, bananas: 26.47 million, apricots: 16.35 million, and peaches: 16.24 million. From literature review and internet survey, fruit characteristics that would create a commercially viable American persimmon are non-astringency, sweet, large, and deep orange coloration. The American persimmon cultivars that have one or more of these characteristics are Meader, F-58, Dollywood, 100-47, L-93, and Leeman’s. 

The research shows that American persimmons are currently not highly valued in the fruit trade market. However,  persimmons may have high potential to become more valued. Some reasons include fertilization, pollination, and drought. American persimmons can withstand drought; they don't have any special fertilization requirements. They are fairly easy to grow and can thrive in most parts of the United States (Ames et al., 2001). A good persimmon includes a bright, vibrant color and no blemishes. For a non-astringent persimmon, it should be firm, and for an astringent persimmon, it should be soft. A perfectly ripe persimmon can taste like caramel with hints of tangerine. (American, 2018). For the breeding program in the future, we want to implement it and also research the genetics behind the project.  The probability of each trait depends on genetics. The astringency gene, for example, seems to be difficult to breed out. This is supported by the fact that no known American persimmon is completely non-astringent, even though attempts to breed this characteristic out have been unsuccessful.

Thank you, Jacob Woodard, and Professor Hank Stevens, for helping to make this poster. Another thank you to LEADS Institute for all their help! 

1. Ames, G. (2001, July). Persimmons, Asian and American. National Sustainable    Agriculture   Information Service. https://www.growables.org/information/TropicalFruit/documents/PersimmonATTRA.pdf 

2. Frost, R. B. (2025, October 20). Assimilated Ancestries of American Persimmon Cultivars. View of assimilated ancestries of American persimmon cultivars (Landrace Diospyros virginiana). https://journal.americanpomological.org/index.php/jofaps/article/view/12/12 

3. American. (2018). Edible Acres. Edible Acres. https://www.edibleacres.org/purchase/american-persimmon 

Technology- 

I have gained skills using technology I haven’t used before. I learned how to use a programming language called R. When I first started, it was very confusing because it was an entirely different language I had to learn and navigate. I used the programming language to explore the imports and exports of fruits and tree nuts in the United States. Using R will later help me with classes like statistics and give me a general background in data analysis. 

Critical thinking- 

I gained critical thinking skills by researching and using the programming language R to help complete my poster. I would run into a lot of stumps when using R to get my data. To solve these problems that I ran into, I would either ask my mentor or use YouTube videos to show me what direction I needed to go in. There were a couple of times when I figured it out by myself from the knowledge that my mentor gave me. I think having to navigate through the research and R on my own really helped me gain some critical thinking skills. 

Professionalism- 

I gained skills in my professional skills by making sure that every time I met with my mentor, I was on time, I was ready to report my findings, and I was prepared to have questions about the work I had. Making sure I always had the information that I needed for each meeting helped me gain professional skills. Developing more professional skills will help me to be better prepared in the future for more professional settings.