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NewsJune 23, 2002

FRESNO, Calif. -- What do you get when you cross a smooth-skinned, sweet, purple plum with a fuzzy, tart, yellow apricot? Anything from a pluot to an aprium. But there is also a battle over whether the pluot is more like a plum or more like an apricot. The dispute is heading to a laboratory for DNA testing and the result could cost growers $1 million in fees to market the product...

By Kim Baca, The Associated Press

FRESNO, Calif. -- What do you get when you cross a smooth-skinned, sweet, purple plum with a fuzzy, tart, yellow apricot?

Anything from a pluot to an aprium.

But there is also a battle over whether the pluot is more like a plum or more like an apricot. The dispute is heading to a laboratory for DNA testing and the result could cost growers $1 million in fees to market the product.

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The fruit was born as an accident of nature, a gift from the birds and bees. It was replicated by Floyd Zaiger, president of Zaiger Genetics, who owns the trademark.

"You would find (a hybrid) in an orchard where a bird would drop a seed in the wild," Zaiger said. "It was very rare, so we knew it could be done, but it took a long time to find out how to do it."

Today, there are 19 varieties of pluots, ranging from deep purple to red with gold speckles to reddish-orange and yellow.

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