ISHS Acta Horticulturae 777: IX International Rubus and Ribes Symposium
NEW USDA-ARS BLACKBERRY CULTIVARS BRING DIVERSITY TO THE MARKET |
| Authors: | C.E. Finn, B.M. Yorgey, B.C. Strik, R.R. Martin |
| Keywords: | Rubus ursinus, early season, thornless, trailing blackberry |
| Abstract:
The primary objective of the USDA-ARS breeding program, conducted in cooperation with Oregon State University, has been to develop thornless, machine-harvestable, trailing blackberry (Rubus L.) cultivars with processed fruit quality comparable to the current industry standard ‘Marion’. Towards this goal, ‘Waldo’ was released by the USDA-ARS in 1989 and ‘Douglass’ was patented and released in 1994 by Mr. Barney Douglass. While these cultivars have many admirable traits, neither has had a significant commercial impact. ‘Black Diamond’, ‘Black Pearl’ and ‘Nightfall’, are recent releases by the USDA-ARS that are thornless, machine harvestable, and have fruit quality comparable to ‘Marion’ in evaluations by food scientists and by evaluation panels. ‘Black Diamond’ has already been planted extensively by commercial growers. The USDA-ARS program has had a long germplasm evaluation and development program utilizing Rubus ursinus Cham. & Schldl. One cross of a superior selection of R. ursinus with ‘Waldo’ produced a selection that is being propagated for commercial release. ORUS 1843-3 combines the outstanding fruit quality of the native R. ursinus with the thornlessness and disease resistance of ‘Waldo’. As with the species, the fruit of ORUS 1843-3 are small, ~3 g, but since they can be machine harvested, it will be planted to meet specific processing applications that require small fruit. While the bulk of the program is geared towards processing genotypes, Northwest growers are interested increasingly in producing fruit for the fresh market. ‘Siskiyou’ is an example of a trailing blackberry that has excellent fruit quality and can be shipped in the wholesale fresh market. The recent releases ‘Obsidian’ and ‘Metolius’ are extremely early ripening in a climate like the Pacific Northwest, have excellent fruit quality, and can be picked with sufficient firmness to ship in the wholesale fresh market. The recent USDA-ARS releases represent a diversity of new options for commercial growers including thornless, high quality, machine harvested cultivars for processing, a thornless, small fruited cultivar for specific processing niches, and for fresh sales, the earliest ripening blackberries on the market. | |
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