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Charlie and his wife, Irene, then
headed west to the University of California
Davis, where he earned his Ph.D.
in plant physiology in 1958. Interestingly,
in 1957 Charlie had already joined
the University of California Riverside
(UCR) as a junior plant physiologist.
Surprisingly, years later Charlie admitted,
“I was never interested in doing
research on citrus.”
While pursuing his B.S. and M.S.
degrees, he had become interested in
herbicide physiology. This was the basis
for his decision to pursue a Ph.D. at UC
Davis, where he could study with Professor
Alden Crafts, the giant in herbicide
physiology at that time.
It was an inquiry from UCR regarding
a position they had open in
plant growth regulation in citrus that
brought Dr. Coggins to Riverside.
Charlie was reluctant to accept the position
because he considered the PGR
researchers of the day “a flaky bunch
of people.”
Fortunately for the industry, he accepted
UCR’s offer, later recalling, “I
was asked to make better use of plant
growth regulators on citrus. That was
all.” Charlie certainly accomplished
that and then some!
At the time that Dr. Coggins was
initiating his research program on citrus
at UCR, ‘Washington’ navel and
‘Valencia’ sweet oranges dominated
California citrus production. California’s
picture-perfect fruit were in great
demand for their excellent eating quality
by consumers throughout the United
States. However, fruit were only available
two times per year, as first navels
and then ‘Valencias’ reached maturity.
Harvesting, packing and marketing
each cultivar within the narrow period
of time that was defined by achieving
acceptable eating quality at the beginning
of the season and avoiding unacceptable
losses due to excessive drop of
senescent fruit at the end of the season
had its problems.
First, there were the negative consequences
on fruit value and grower income
associated with flooding the consumer
market with product due to the
need to get the fruit off the trees. This
pressure grew steadily worse as navel
orange acreage increased.
Second, for three months out of
each year, packinghouses were without
fruit and their labor force without employment.
The industry was basically
shut down for that period, impacting
suppliers, the large migrant labor force
supporting the industry which annually
packed up and moved, and the local
“mom and pop” shops, gas stations, and
restaurants frequented by labor families.
Moreover, a very valuable asset
– the packinghouse – was sitting idle
three months of the year!
Appreciating the impact of gibbing
Gibbing changed everything! Fruit
could now be stored on the tree well
past the “normal” maturity window
for the cultivar, making it possible to
harvest, pack and market navels and
‘Valencias’ over longer periods, supplying
consumers with fresh oranges
12 months of the year. Moreover, GA 3
-
treated fruit were of superior quality
(i.e., the incidence of rind staining, water
spot, puff and sticky rind were all
reduced by GA 3
).
The financial benefit of year-round
marketing of sweet oranges is so huge
it is difficult to calculate with accuracy.
In contrast, the fundamental changes
to the California citrus industry from
having a year-round supply of fruit are
easy to enumerate because they are as
Dr. Coggins remains the perfect example of those
few rare scientists who have made important
basic research discoveries of phenomenal
practical benefit to crop production.
Photo courtesy of UC Riverside.
November/December 2012 Citrograph 17