Articles
BREEDING OF RUBUS SPECIES IN FINLAND
By exploiting the gene pools of the wild raspberry, winterhardy selections have been obtained.
In 1988 ‘Ville’, a cultivar obtained by crossing the ‘Ottawa’ cultivar with a Finnish natural raspberry strain, was released for cultivation; it produces small but aromatic fruit.
Two natural strains of the arctic bramble were adopted for cultivation in 1972, and given the names ‘Mesma’ and ‘Mespi’. A hybrid of these, named ‘Pima’, was released for cultivation in 1982. The arctic bramble has also been crossed with the Alaska bramble (R. arcticus subsp. stellatus), and in 1986 two hybrid selections thus obtained were named as the cultivars ‘Aura’ and ‘Astra’. These are taller than the arctic bramble and give a larger yield; the berries have the delicate aroma of the arctic bramble fruit.
Unfortunately, like the strains they are derived from, they are self-sterile.
Successful crossing has also been carried out between the raspberry and the arctic bramble.
After repeated crossings and backcrossings, this produced the nectar raspberry, of which two cultivars have been released: ‘Heija’ in 1975, and the more winterhardy and higher-yielding ‘Heisa’ in 1981.