EVALUATION OF STRATEGIES TO COMMERCIALISE NEW STRAWBERRY CULTIVARS IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA

A protocol was developed to facilitate effective adoption of new cultivars from an Australian breeding program into commercial cultivation.
A promising selection first identified in ‘small plot’ trials was chosen to test the protocol.
The method proved the marketability of the new selection and created a demand among growers for commercial runners when it was released as a named cultivar.
The selection was named ‘Kiewa’ during the course of the work, and proved to be well adapted to a range of field chilling conditions and highly responsive to nitrogen fertiliser. ‘Kiewa’ compared favourably with the industry standard cultivar, ‘Camarosa’, in consumer tests, and both cultivars were preferred by consumers when grown with a high plane of plant nutrition.
Standards for quality marketing of the cultivar using fruit brix as a surrogate for flavour were derived, based on simple on-farm tests.

V International Strawberry Symposium

D.R. Phillips, D.G. Gatter

Fragaria × ananassa Duch., sensory evaluation, plant nutrition, irrigation, runner propagation, fruit quality, fruit brix

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2006.708.76