The Agricultural Research Service of the US has said it has recently released a variety of plum that is rich in antioxidants.


The flesh of the ‘Ruby Queen’, a late-ripening plum well adapted to the humid climate of the southeastern United States, has been shown to contain high levels of antioxidants, which are believed to help protect against cancer.


W. R. Okie and his colleagues at the ARS Southeastern Fruit and Tree Nut Research Laboratory in Byron, Georgia, selected the Ruby Queen seedling in 1985 for testing, after three years of development.


The Agricultural Research Service is the US Department of Agriculture’s chief scientific research agency.