BREEDING PRIMOCANE-FRUITING RASPBERRIES AT MEDWAY FRUITS — PROGRESS AND PROSPECTS

Cultivars of primocane-fruiting raspberries have improved considerably in the last 20 years, but their shelf-life and yields are still inferior to those of summer-fruiting kinds.
Breeding at Medway Fruits aims to improve these qualities.
For shelf-life, the success of cultivars like ‘Glen Lyon’ and ‘Tulameen’ suggests that the fruits should combine good skin strength with resistance to compression.
For yield, fruit size is emphasised because it is a particularly important yield component in primocane-fruiting cultivars.
To attain both objectives we have transferred genes from summer-fruiting to primocane-fruiting cultivars, notably genes for prolonged shelf-life from ‘Glen Lyon’ and related germplasm, and genes for large fruits from ‘Glen Moy’. The cultivars ‘Joan Squire’, ‘Joan J’ and ‘Joan Irene’ have some of the qualities required. ‘Joan Squire’ can be manipulated to crop from mid-August to mid-December in the UK, while cropping from over-wintered canes provides for early production.
However, for ‘Joan Squire’ and other material the quality of floricane fruit is always inferior to that of primocane fruit.

VIII International Rubus and Ribes Symposium

D.L. Jennings

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2002.585.10