Now help is on the way. By taking a gene from a roadside weed of the mustard family and adding it to young orange tree seedlings, Spanish researchers from Valencia and Madrid have created orange trees that flower and produce fruit within their first year or two.
Citrus is the most economically important of the world's evergreen fruit crops.
The ability to grow precociously fruiting trees could revolutionize the industry, researchers and a team of independent commentators report in the March issue of Nature Biotechnology. Scientists suspect the mustard genes will have similar effects in other citrus trees, allowing quicker testing of new varieties and faster economic returns. Samson Diagnosed as Antisocial Samson, the Israelite hero who was betrayed by Delilah, had almost all the symptoms of someone with a serious psychiatric disorder. A person has to manifest only three of the seven criteria to get the diagnosis. Samson was credited with incredible strength and exploits, such as slaying a lion and moving the gates of Gaza.