Spiegel-Roy, P., Institute of Horticulture, Agricultural Research Organization, The Volcani Center, Bet-Dagan, Israel
Weinbaum, S.A., Department of Pomology, University of California, Davis, 95616, CA, United States

Eight controlled crosses were made between seven different sweet-kerneled almond cultivars (Prunus dulcis [Mill.] D. A. Webb), and five crosses were made between sweet x highly floriferous bitter almond clones. Sweet x bitter progenies out-yielded the sweet x sweet matings by more than three to one in the first year of production. This was attributable to greater cropping efficiency rather than to tree size or precocity. There was no pleiotropic association or association due to linkage between bitterness and yield. The selected Alnem (bitter) clones appear to be potentially useful progenitors for increasing almond yield capacity by conventional breeding methodology. © 1985 Veenman B.V., Wageningen.