Source: MICHIGAN STATE UNIV submitted to
GENETIC IMPROVEMENT OF STRAWBERRIES AND BLUEBERRIES
Sponsoring Institution
National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Project Status
TERMINATED
Funding Source
HATCH
Reporting Frequency
Annual
Accession No.
0173180
Grant No.
(N/A)
Project No.
MICL01810
Proposal No.
(N/A)
Multistate No.
(N/A)
Program Code
(N/A)
Project Start Date
Aug 1, 2012
Project End Date
Sep 30, 2016
Grant Year
(N/A)
Project Director
Hancock, J.
Recipient Organization
MICHIGAN STATE UNIV
(N/A)
EAST LANSING,MI 48824
Performing Department
Horticulture
Non Technical Summary
Our goal is to generate new and improved strawberry and blueberry varieties for Michigan and continental climates across the world. We will use conventional strategies and marker assisted breeding. Michigan leads the US in blueberry production and ranks around number five in strawberry production. We plan to generate new cultivars that will greatly enhance the profitability of these crops. The emphasis in blueberries will be on flavorful, long storing fruit in the very early and late seasons, while in strawberries the primary goals will be on sweet, firm fruit, black root rot resistance and everbearing.
Animal Health Component
0%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
50%
Applied
50%
Developmental
0%
Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)Subject of Investigation (SOI)Field of Science (FOS)Percent
2041120108125%
2121120108125%
2041122108125%
2121122108125%
Knowledge Area
204 - Plant Product Quality and Utility (Preharvest); 212 - Pathogens and Nematodes Affecting Plants;

Subject Of Investigation
1122 - Strawberry; 1120 - Blueberry;

Field Of Science
1081 - Breeding;
Goals / Objectives
Our goal is to generate new and improved strawberry and blueberry cultivars for Michigan and continental climates across the world. Our specific objectives are:1)Continue conventional breeding program to develop new blueberry and strawberry cultivars for Michigan. The emphasis in blueberries will be on flavorful, long storing fruit in the very early and late seasons, while in strawberries the primary goals will be on sweet, firm fruit, black root rot resistance and remontancy.2)Increase marker coverage in the vicinity of QTL associated with harvest date, and fruit quality traits (soluble solids, titratable acidity, and picking scar) in blueberry, and validate and/or identify new QTL linked to these traits in additional breeding populations. 3)Continue evaluation of RosBREED population in Michigan and other states and identify key QTL associated with remontancy and fruit quality traits (soluble solids, titratable acidity, and firmness) in strawberry. After QTL regions are confirmed, increase marker coverage in these areas.
Project Methods
Twenty five to thirty crosses of elite blueberry genotypes will made each year. Seed will be sown and germinated in the late summer for field planting. Evaluation will begin in year 2, and continue until year 4. The genotypes that were impressive for at least two of the three years of evaluation will be propagated for multi-field trials at commercial spacing. Fifty crosses of elite strawberry populations will also be made each year. Seed will be sown and germinated in the late summer for field planting the following summer in non-fumigated soil. The most superior genotypes will be selected in the summer and following spring for multi-state trialing. To identify QTL associated with important horticultural traits in blueberry, we are using a cross of Draper with the southern highbush Jewel. Potential SSR markers are being screened in several collaborating labs (N. Bassil, J. Graham and E. Buck) to produce a genetic map. The Draper x Jewel family was propagated and planted at five locations [Gainesville FL and Waycross GA (E. Wheeler), Invergowrie, Scotland (J. Graham), Corvallis, OR (C. Finn) and Benton Harbor, MI], and is being evaluated for a wide array of developmental and fruit quality characteristics. A greenhouse experiment was also undertaken in the winter of 2011 at MSU to determine the chilling requirement of each of the D x J individuals.A QTL analysis will be conducted using the genetic map and phenotypic data, and the QTL will be verified by searching for them in additional families. As part of the RosBREED project, spearheaded by Amy Iezzoni at MSU, 900 strawberry genotypes are being evaluated for key horticultural traits in Oregon (C. Finn), Michigan, New Hampshire (T. Davis), Florida (V. Whittaker) and California (P. Stewart). The genotypes represent foundation cultivars, modern cultivars, "supercore" accessions of octoploid species material, five mapping populations (Michigan, France, Spain, The Netherlands, and the U.K.), and a series of crosses made by the USDA-ARS (Corvallis, OR) and MSU that focused on remontancy. N. Bassil has begun genotyping all the individuals and will conduct QTL analyses using the FlexQTL software when the phenotypic data set is complete. She will be searching for QTL for the fruit quality traits and remontancy in these populations using SSRs and ultimately SNPs. We will also generate a number of additional segregating populations at MSU that carry potentially unique sources of remontancy, so that we can search for additional QTL.

Progress 08/01/12 to 09/30/16

Outputs
Target Audience:Target audiences included blueberry and strawberry breeders and allied scientists, blueberry and strawberry growers, processors and marketing organizations and consumers. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Several visiting scientists, one graduate student and several undergraduates were involved in the research. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Results were communicated to producers at two statewide meetings (Michigan State Horticultural Society and Oregon Horticulture Society Blueberry Workshop) and one national one (North American Strawberry Growers). Results were also communicated in scientific publications as well as a day neutral strawberry workshop in Ontario, Canada. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Ten elite, remontant strawberry selections were propagated for multistate trial to determine if any were worthy of release as cultivars. We propagated another sixty-two strawberry selections from the previous year that were set in the field in Michigan and Washington to determine which should be further advanced. Six elite highbush blueberry selections were propagated for field planting by our 6 MSU trialing partners. We continued to study the genetics of several horticultural traits in strawberries and blueberries to support our breeding work. With a number of collaborators, we selected over 750 genotypes to represent the breadth of diversity in the strawberry and they have been planted in Oregon, Michigan, New Hampshire, Florida and California. Data were collected on these plants the previous summer including: the fruit quality traits; weight, firmness, skin toughness, external and internal color, achene position, flavor, shape, ease of capping and cap position, soluble solids, titratable acidity, pH, drip loss after freezing and thawing, and total anthocyanins, as well as remontancy, truss size, peduncle length, crop load, virus susceptibility, plant architecture and disease resistance. We continued to toil as partners in the SCRI grant spearheaded by Jeannie Rowland to develop genomic resources for blueberry. Our group focused on using molecular markers to tag the genes associated with chilling requirement and fruit quality in the highbush blueberry. We produced a genetic mapping population of 105 progeny from the cross of Draper x Jewel, and made cuttings of this population that were planted at Gainesville FL, Waycross GA, Invergowrie, Scotland, Corvallis, OR and Benton Harbor, MI. This population was evaluated the previous year for a wide array of developmental and fruit quality characteristics at each site. Variability in soluble solids (SS), titratable acidity (TA), SS/TA, pH, total phenolic content (TPC), ferric reducing ability of plasma (FRAP), total monomeric anthocyanin content (TMAC) and levels of Vitamin C were evaluated in a broad aaray of northern highbush, southern highbush and rabbiteye cultivars, grown in different locations and years. When cultivars were grouped by decade of release, there were few significant overall trends observed over years in fruit quality and phytochemical content; however, individual cultivars varied significantly for all the taits analyzed. Considerable overlap in most quality and phytochemical characteristics were found among cultivars of the three blueberry types, suggesting that genetic barriers do not exist among the various types of blueberries to breed cultivars with comparable sugar, acid and phytochemical properties. There were significant negative correlations observed between fruit weight and SS, TP, FRAP and TMAC, suggesting that as breeders have been selecting for larger fruit, they have inadvertantly selected for tarter fruit with lower antioxidant capacity. However, SS was correlated positively with FRAP and TMAC, indicating that cultivars can be developed that have high antioxidant capacity and anthocyanin content, combined with high sugar content. Six MSU strawberry selections have been selected for final trial in Michigan and Washington before possible release Dayneutral: MSU 67 - High vigor and very high yields, very large fruit, dark red fruit with good internal color, good firmness, good flavor, fruited 11 weeks in Washington and 8 weeks in Michigan in 2012; Production gap in center of season. MSU 68 (08-5-35) - High vigor and very high yields, variable fruit size from medium to large, bright red fruit with good internal color, very firm, very good flavor, fruited 11 weeks in Washington and 8 weeks in Michigan in 2012; Maintained high yields. MSU 69 (08-61-76) - Very high vigor and yields, medium to large fruit, bright red external color, mostly red inside, good firmness and flavor, fruited 11 weeks in Washington and 5 weeks in Michigan in 2012. Highest yields in beginning of season and largest fruit at end of season. MSU 70 (08-12-74) - High vigor and yields, medium to large fruit, bright red external color, mostly red inside, very firm, good to excellent flavor, fruited 11 weeks in Washington and Michigan in 2012. Size fell off as season progressed. Short-day: MSU 44 - Early, high vigor and yields, large, glossy red fruit with good internal color, very firm, good flavor; Trialed very well in Michigan several years ago, but have not had a good look in Washington yet. MSU 49 - Early, high vigor and yields, very large fruit with good external and internal color, very firm, good flavor; Trialed very well in Michigan several years ago, but have not had a good look in Washington yet. MSU 56 - Early, high vigor and yields, very large fruit with good external and internal color, very firm, excellent flavor; Trialed very well in Michigan several years ago, but have not had a good look in Washington yet. Two new highbush blueberry cultivars were released, Calypso and Osorno. 'Calypso' is vigorous and upright. It ripens at the end of the 'Legacy' season, before 'Liberty'. 'It is not as vigorous as 'Legacy', but it is more winter hardy. Its canes are numerous, moderately branched and the fruit are well exposed. Its berries are large, have small, dry picking scars, medium light blue color, excellent firmness and flavor. In general, the fruit of 'Calypso' has held extremely well on the bush after ripening, except in the unusually hot summer of 2012 in Michigan and Oregon. In that year it was softer than normal, performing similar to 'Liberty' under hot conditions. 'Calypso' is likely well adapted to all northern highbush production areas, except where summer temperatures are routinely above 30° C. 'Osorno' is vigorous and upright. Its berries are large, have small, dry picking scars, light blue color, excellent firmness and superior flavor. It has displayed consistent high yields in most years in Michigan, except in 2011, when a sharp temperature reduction in early winter destroyed a high proportion of its flower buds. It is likely best adapted to the northern highbush production areas where winters are not severe, such as central Chile and the Pacific Northwest. Its fruit held up extremely well in the unseasonably hot summer of 2012, when temperatures routinely exceeded 30 C. We also generated about 2,000 blueberry and 1,000 strawberry hybrids that were field planted for selection in spring. We also made 30 new selections of strawberries and five of blueberry that went in an advanced trial in 2014. We released two new day-neutral cultivars intended for the Midwestern and Northeastern USA, Ontario and Quebec, and the Pacific Northwest - Redstart (MSU 67) and Wasatch (MSU 68). They were the first day-neutral cultivar released outside of California in over 30 years. Redstart and Wasatch have proven to have a very long production season beginning in mid-June. They fruited up to 13 weeks in Mt. Vernon, Washington, and 8 weeks at Benton Harbor, Michigan. Their fruit are generally larger and better flavored than 'Seascape', comparable in firmness, but not as strongly colored. Their yields have been higher than Albion, with a comparable to slightly sweeter flavor; however, they are not quite as firm and are smaller fruited. We also generated about 2,400 blueberry and 1,200 strawberry hybrids that were field planted for selection in spring. We also made 8 new selections of strawberries and five of blueberry that went into an advanced trial in 2015. We released two new day-neutral cultivars intended for the Midwestern and Northeastern USA, Ontario and Quebec, and the Pacific Northwest - Redstart (MSU 67) and Wasatch (MSU 68). Again, they were the first day-neutral cultivar released outside of California in over 30 years.

Publications


    Progress 10/01/14 to 09/30/15

    Outputs
    Target Audience:Blueberry and strawberry producers Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?One visiting scientists and one undergraduates was involved in the research. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Results were communicated in scientific publications and to producers in a day neutral strawberry workshop in Ontario. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Crosses using our unique blueberry and strawberry germplasm will be planned and then performed. In strawberry, both intra and inter-specfic crossing schemes will be undertaken including: (1) intercrossing our elite selections to produce improved genotypes of F. × ananassa, and (2) hybridizing previously selected hybrid clones of F. chiloensis x F. virginiana to systematically reconstruct F. × ananassa. The focus in blueberries will be on transferring the high heat tolerance of 'Osorno' fruit to earlier and later cultivars. Approximately, 2,000 blueberry and strawberry hybrids will be produced and planted at the Southwest Michigan Research and Extension Center (SWMREC) for evaluation and selection. Another existing planting of about 7,000 blueberry and 2,000 strawberry hybrids at SWMREC will also be evaluated to search for additional elite genotypes. Participants Actual FTE's for this

    Impacts
    What was accomplished under these goals? We generated about 2,400 blueberry and 1,200 strawberry hybrids that will be field planted for selection this coming spring. We also made 8 new selections of strawberries and five of blueberry that will go into advanced trial in 2015. We are released two new day-neutral cultivars intended for the Midwestern and Northeastern USA, Ontario and Quebec, and the Pacific Northwest - Redstart (MSU 67) and Wasatch (MSU 68). They will be the first day-neutral cultivar released outside of California in over 30 years. Redstart and Wasatch have proven to have a very long production season beginning in mid-June. They fruited up to 13 weeks in Mt. Vernon, Washington, and 8 weeks at Benton Harbor, Michigan. Their fruit are generally larger and better flavored than 'Seascape', comparable in firmness, but not as strongly colored. Their yields have been higher than Albion, with a comparable to slightly sweeter flavor; however, they are not quite as firm and are smaller fruited.

    Publications

    • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: Sooriyapathirana, S., S. Mookerjee, C. K. Weebadde, C. E. Finnd, K. Lewers, J. M. Bushakra, J. J. Luby, P. Stewart and J. F. Hancock. 2015. Identification of QTL associated with flower and runner production in octoploid strawberry (Fragaria �ananassa). Journal of Berry Research, 6: 1-10.
    • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: Castro, P., J.M. Bushakra, P. Stewart, C.K. Weebadde, D. Wang, J.F. Hancock, C.E. Finn, J.J. Luby, and K.S. Lewers. 2015. Genetic mapping of day-neutrality in cultivated strawberry. Molecular Breeding 35: 1-16.
    • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: Hummer, K.E. and J.F. Hancock. 2015. Vavilovian centers of plant diversity: Implications and impacts. HortScience 50:780-783
    • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: G�nd�z, K., S. Ser?e and J.F. Hancock. 2015. Variation among highbush and rabbiteye cultivars of blueberry for fruit quality and phytochemical characteristics. Journal of Food Composition and Analysis 38: 6979.
    • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: J. F. Hancock, P. W. Callow, M.M. Mathey, T. Mackey, K. G�nd�z, S. Mookerjee, L.Cai, N. Salinas, N.V. Bassil, K. Hummer and C.E. Finn. 2015. Phenotypic variability in a panel of strawberry cultivars from North America and the European Union. Journal of the American Pomological Society 69: 85-101.
    • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: Zawedde, B.M., M. Ghislain, E. Magembe, G. B. Amaro, R. Grumet and J. Hancock. 2015. Characterization of the genetic diversity of Ugandas sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas) germplasm using microsatellites markers. Genetic Resources and Crop Evolution 62:501-513
    • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: Zawedde, B.M., C. Harris, A. Alajo, J. Hancock and R. Grumet. 2015. Factors influencing diversity of farmers varieties of sweet potato in Uganda: Implications for conservation. Economic Botany 68: 337349.


    Progress 10/01/13 to 09/30/14

    Outputs
    Target Audience: Blueberry and strawberry producers Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Two visiting scientists and two undergraduates were involved in the research. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Results were communicated in scientific publications and to producers in a statewide meeting (Michigan State Horticultural Society). What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Crosses using our unique blueberry and strawberry germplasm will be planned and then performed. In strawberry, both intra and inter-specfic crossing schemes will be undertaken including: (1) intercrossing our elite selections to produce improved genotypes of F. × ananassa, and (2) hybridizing previously selected hybrid clones of F. chiloensis x F. virginiana to systematically reconstruct F. × ananassa. The focus in blueberries will be on transferring the high heat tolerance of 'Osorno' fruit to earlier and later cultivars. Approximately, 2,000 blueberry and strawberry hybrids will be produced and planted at the Southwest Michigan Research and Extension Center (SWMREC) for evaluation and selection. Another existing planting of about 7,000 blueberry and 2,000 strawberry hybrids at SWMREC will also be evaluated to search for additional elite genotypes.

    Impacts
    What was accomplished under these goals? We generated about 2,000 blueberry and 1,000 strawberry hybrids that will be field planted for selection this coming spring. We also made 30 new selections of strawberries and five of blueberry that will go into advanced trial in 2014. We are ready to release two new day-neutral cultivars intended for the Midwestern and Northeastern USA, Ontario and Quebec, and the Pacific Northwest – Redstart (MSU 67) and Wasatch (MSU 68). They will be the first day-neutral cultivar released outside of California in over 30 years. Redstart and Wasatch have proven to have a very long production season beginning in mid-June. They fruited up to 13 weeks in Mt. Vernon, Washington, and 8 weeks at Benton Harbor, Michigan. Their fruit are generally larger and better flavored than ‘Seascape’, comparable in firmness, but not as strongly colored. Their yields have been higher than Albion, with a comparable to slightly sweeter flavor; however, they are not quite as firm and are smaller fruited.

    Publications

    • Type: Book Chapters Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: R. M. Brennan, P. D. Caligari, S., Clark, J.R., Br�s de Oliveira, P.N., Finn, C.E., Hancock, J.F., Jarret, D., Lobos, G.A., Raffle S. and Simpson, D. 2014. Berry Crops. In: G. R. Dixon and D. E. Aldous (eds.), Horticulture: Plants for People and Places, Volume 1. Springer Science+Business Media, Dordrecht.
    • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Lobos, G.A., Callow, P.W. and Hancock, J.F. 2014. The effect of delaying harvest date on fruit quality and storage of late highbush blueberry cultivars (Vaccinium corymbosum L.). Postharvest Biology and Technology 87: 133139
    • Type: Journal Articles Status: Accepted Year Published: 2014 Citation: Mathey, M.M., Mookerjee, S., G�nd�z, K., Hancock, J.F., Iezzoni, A.F., Mahoney, L.L., Davis, T.M., hla Bassil, N.V., Hummer, K.M., Stewart, P.J., Whitaker, V.M., Sargent, D.J., Denoyes, B., Amaya, I. van de Weg, E. and Finn, C.E. 2014. Large-Scale Standardized phenotyping of strawberry in RosBREED. Journal of the American Pomological Society 67: 205-216
    • Type: Journal Articles Status: Accepted Year Published: 2014 Citation: Mookerjee, S., Mathey, M.M., Finn, C.E., Zhang, Z. and Hancock, J.F. 2014. Heat tolerance plays an important role in regulating remontant flowering in an F1population of octoploid strawberry (Fragaria�ananassa). Journal of Berry Research 3: 151-158.
    • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Finn C.E., Hancock, J.F., Olmstead, J.W. and Brazelton, G.M. 2013. Welcome to the party! Blueberry breeding mixes private and public with traditional and molecular to create a vibrant new cocktail. Proc. 7th Intl. Strawberry Symp. Y. Zhang and J. Maas (eds.) Acta Hort. 1049: 193-200.


    Progress 01/01/13 to 09/30/13

    Outputs
    Target Audience: Target audiences include strawberry and blueberry breeders and allied scientists, blueberry and strawberry growers, processors and marketing organizations and consumers. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? One graduate student and two undergraduates were involved in the research. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Results were communicated to producers at two statewide meetings (Michigan State Horticultural Society and Oregon Horticulture Society Blueberry Workshop) and one national one (North American Strawberry Growers). What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Crosses using our unique blueberry and strawberry germplasm will be planned and then performed. In strawberry, both intra- and inter-specfic crossing schemes will be undertaken including: (1) intercrossing our elite selections to produce improved genotypes of F. × ananassa, and (2) hybridizing previously selected hybrid clones of F. chiloensis x F. virginiana to systematically reconstruct F. × ananassa. The focus in blueberries will be on transferring the high heat tolerance of ‘Osorno’ fruit to earlier and later cultivars. Approximately, 2,000 blueberry and strawberry hybrids will be produced and planted at the Southwest Michigan Research and Extension Center (SWMREC) for evaluation and selection. Another existing planting of about 5,000 blueberry and 2,000 strawberry hybrids at SWMREC will also be evaluated to search for additional elite genotypes.

    Impacts
    What was accomplished under these goals? Variability in soluble solids (SS), titratable acidity (TA), SS/TA, pH, total phenolic content (TPC), ferric reducing ability of plasma (FRAP), total monomeric anthocyanin content (TMAC) and levels of Vitamin C were evaluated in a broad aaray of northern highbush, southern highbush and rabbiteye cultivars, grown in different locations and years. When cultivars were grouped by decade of release, there were few significant overall trends observed over years in fruit quality and phytochemical content; however, individual cultivars varied significantly for all the taits analyzed. Considerable overlap in most quality and phytochemical characteristics were found among cultivars of the three blueberry types, suggesting that genetic barriers do not exist among the various types of blueberries to breed cultivars with comparable sugar, acid and phytochemical properties. There were significant negative correlations observed between fruit weight and SS, TP, FRAP and TMAC, suggesting that as breeders have been selecting for larger fruit, they have inadvertantly selected for tarter fruit with lower antioxidant capacity. However, SS was correlated positively with FRAP and TMAC, indicating that cultivars can be developed that have high antioxidant capacity and anthocyanin content, combined with high sugar content. Six MSU strawberry selections have been selected for final trial in Michigan and Washington before possible release Day-neutral: MSU 67 – High vigor and very high yields, very large fruit, dark red fruit with good internal color, good firmness, good flavor, fruited 11 weeks in Washington and 8 weeks in Michigan in 2012; Production gap in center of season. MSU 68 (08-5-35) – High vigor and very high yields, variable fruit size from medium to large, bright red fruit with good internal color, very firm, very good flavor, fruited 11 weeks in Washington and 8 weeks in Michigan in 2012; Maintained high yields. MSU 69 (08-61-76) – Very high vigor and yields, medium to large fruit, bright red external color, mostly red inside, good firmness and flavor, fruited 11 weeks in Washington and 5 weeks in Michigan in 2012. Highest yields in beginning of season and largest fruit at end of season. MSU 70 (08-12-74) - High vigor and yields, medium to large fruit, bright red external color, mostly red inside, very firm, good to excellent flavor, fruited 11 weeks in Washington and Michigan in 2012. Size fell off as season progressed. Short-day: MSU 44 – Early, high vigor and yields, large, glossy red fruit with good internal color, very firm, good flavor; Trialed very well in Michigan several years ago, but have not had a good look in Washington yet. MSU 49 – Early, high vigor and yields, very large fruit with good external and internal color, very firm, good flavor; Trialed very well in Michigan several years ago, but have not had a good look in Washington yet. MSU 56 – Early, high vigor and yields, very large fruit with good external and internal color, very firm, excellent flavor; Trialed very well in Michigan several years ago, but have not had a good look in Washington yet. Two new highbush blueberry cultivars were released, Calypso and Osorno. ‘Calypso’ is vigorous and upright. It ripens at the end of the ‘Legacy’ season, before ‘Liberty’. ‘It is not as vigorous as ‘Legacy’, but it is more winter hardy. Its canes are numerous, moderately branched and the fruit are well exposed. Its berries are large, have small, dry picking scars, medium light blue color, excellent firmness and flavor. In general, the fruit of ‘Calypso’ has held extremely well on the bush after ripening, except in the unusually hot summer of 2012 in Michigan and Oregon. In that year it was softer than normal, performing similar to ‘Liberty’ under hot conditions. ‘Calypso’ is likely well adapted to all northern highbush production areas, except where summer temperatures are routinely above 30° C. ‘Osorno’ is vigorous and upright. Its berries are large, have small, dry picking scars, light blue color, excellent firmness and superior flavor. It has displayed consistent high yields in most years in Michigan, except in 2011, when a sharp temperature reduction in early winter destroyed a high proportion of its flower buds. It is likely best adapted to the northern highbush production areas where winters are not severe, such as central Chile and the Pacific Northwest. Its fruit held up extremely well in the unseasonably hot summer of 2012, when temperatures routinely exceeded 30 C.

    Publications

    • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2013 Citation: G.A. Lobos, Retamales, J.B., Hancock, J.F., Flore, J.A. Romero, S. and del Pozo, A. 2013. Spectral irradiance under photo-selective nets and its influence on photosynthetic characteristics and leaf traits of Vaccinium corymbosum L. cv. Elliott. Journal of Experimental Botany 153: 143-149. Finn, C.E., Retamales, J.B., Lobos, G.A. and Hancock, J.F. 2013. The Chilean strawberry (Fragaria chiloensis): Over 1000 years of domestication. HortScience 48: 418-421 G-Q. Song, Walworth, A., Zhao, D., Jiang, J., Hancock, J.F., Baird, V. 2013. The Vaccinium corymbosum FLOWERING LOCUS T-like gene (VcFT): a flowering activator reverses photoperiodic and chilling requirements in blueberry. Plant Cell Reports 32: 1759- 1769. G.A. Lobos, Callow, P. and J.F Hancock. 2013. The effect of delaying harvest date on fruit quality and storage of late highbush blueberry cultivars (Vaccinium corymbosum L.) . Postharvest Biology and Technology 87: 133139.


    Progress 01/01/12 to 12/31/12

    Outputs
    OUTPUTS: We are in the process of releasing two new highbush blueberry cultivars, Calypso and Osorno. Calypso ripens in the mid-season, probably overlapping with Jersey and Legacy. Its overall fruit quality is much superior to Jersey. Its fruit are also larger than Legacy and it has better overall fruit quality and a sweeter taste. It is not as vigorous as Legacy, but it is more winter hardy so its yields in Michigan have generally been superior to Legacy. Calypso is likely well adapted to all northern highbush production areas, except where summer temperatures are routinely above 30C. Calypso is being released as a late mid-season alternative to Jersey and Legacy. Osorno significantly overlaps the season of the widely planted, mid-season cultivars Draper, and Bluecrop. Osorno has larger fruit than Bluecrop, as well as much better overall fruit quality. It is a little larger than Draper with comparable fruit quality, but a sweeter taste. It is a much more vigorous than Draper and likely more productive. Osorno is meant as a very heat tolerant alternative to Draper, where the vigor of Draper is an issue. Its fruit held up extremely well in the unseasonably hot summer of 2012, when temperatures routinely exceed 30C. PARTICIPANTS: The participants in these projects include a full time and part-time technician, one graduate assistant and 3 undergraduate assistants. Partner grower organizations include MBG Marketing and Sakuma Bros. We also work closely with Dr. Chad Finn, USDA-ARS, Corvallis OR and Dr. Annemiek Schilder, Michigan State University and their research groups. TARGET AUDIENCES: Target audiences include blueberry and strawberry breeders and allied scientists, blueberry and strawberry growers, processors and marketing organizations, strawberry propagators and consumers. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period.

    Impacts
    Ten elite, remontant strawberry selections are now being propagated for multistate trial to determine if any are worthy of release as cultivars. We have propagated another sixty-two strawberry selections from last year that will be set in the field in Michigan and Washington to determine which should be further advanced. Six elite highbush blueberry selections have also been propagated for field planting by our 6 MSU trialing partners. We continue to study the genetics of several horticultural traits in strawberries and blueberries to support our breeding work. With a number of collaborators, we selected over 750 genotypes to represent the breadth of diversity in the strawberry and they have been planted in Oregon, Michigan, New Hampshire, Florida and California. Data were collected on these plants last summer including: the fruit quality traits; weight, firmness, skin toughness, external and internal color, achene position, flavor, shape, ease of capping and cap position, soluble solids, titratable acidity, pH, drip loss after freezing and thawing, and total anthocyanins, as well as remontancy, truss size, peduncle length, crop load, virus susceptibility, plant architecture and disease resistance. We continue to toil as partners in the SCRI grant spearheaded by Jeannie Rowland to develop genomic resources for blueberry. Our group is focusing on using molecular markers to tag the genes associated with chilling requirement and fruit quality in the highbush blueberry. We produced a genetic mapping population of 105 progeny from the cross of Draper x Jewel, and made cuttings of this population that were planted at Gainesville FL, Waycross GA, Invergowrie, Scotland, Corvallis, OR and Benton Harbor, MI. This population was evaluated last year for a wide array of developmental and fruit quality characteristics at each site.

    Publications

    • Diamanti, J., F. Capocasa1, F. Balducci, M. Battino, J. Hancock and B. Mezzetti. 2012. Increasing strawberry fruit sensorial and nutritional quality using wild and cultivated germplasm. PLOS ONE 7, e46470
    • Rowland, L.J., D.J. Bell, N. Alkharouf, N. Bassil, F.A. Drummond, L. Beers, E.J. Buck, C.E. Finn, J. Graham, S. McCallum, J.F. Hancock, J.J. Polashock, J.W. Olmstead and D. Main. 2012. Generating genomic tools for blueberry improvement. Int. J. Fruit Sci. 12:276-287.
    • McCallum, S., M.M. Woodhead, L. Jorgensen, S. Gordon, R. Brennan, J. Graham, C.A. Hackett, L.J. Rowland, J.F. Hancock, J.W. Olmstead and N.V. Bassil. 2012. Developing tools for long-term breeding of blueberry germplasm for UK production. Int. J. Fruit Sci. 12: 294-303.


    Progress 01/01/11 to 12/31/11

    Outputs
    OUTPUTS: Two genotypes (MSU 67 and 70) from our blueberry breeding project will likely be released next year. They are roughly in the Jersey/Legacy season and have very high fruit quality. We also have 6 new elite selections ready to be field planted by our 8 MSU trialing partners. Five elite strawberry selections (2 short day and three remontant) are now being propagated for multistate trial to determine if any are worthy of release. We also are propagating sixty strawberry selections from last year that will be set in the field to determine which should be further advanced. We have conducted QTL studies in strawberry and blueberry that will soon be used in marker assisted breeding. PARTICIPANTS: The participants in these projects include a full time and part-time technician, two graduate assistants and one undergraduate assistant. Partner grower organizations include MBG Marketing and Sakuma Bros. We also work closely with Dr. Chad Finn, USDA-ARS, Corvallis OR and Dr. Annemiek Schilder, Michigan State University and their research groups. TARGET AUDIENCES: Target audiences include blueberry and strawberry breeders and allied scientists, blueberry and strawberry growers, processors and marketing organizations, strawberry propagators and consumers. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period.

    Impacts
    We have been studying the genetics of several horticultural traits in strawberries and blueberries to support our breeding work. One hundred progeny from the cross of Draper x Jewel were evaluated in an unheated greenhouse in East Lansing, MI to determine each individuals chilling requirements. This was done by moving plants from the cold house to a heated one when they have received 250, 350, 450, 550, 650, 750 and 850 chilling hours, and evaluating their patterns of floral and vegetative development. We found a full range in segregation from those genotypes having the lowest to highest chilling requirements. The inheritance of fruit rot resistance to C. acutatum was investigated in the field using progeny from sixteen crosses of parents with varying levels of susceptibility. Fruits were inoculated when immature, harvested when ripe, incubated, rated at 5, 8 and 12 days and area under the disease progress curve (AUDPC) values were calculated. AUDPC values varied from 117 to 417 in 2010 and 100 to 545 in 2011. With a number of collaborators, we selected over 750 genotypes to represent the breadth of diversity in the strawberry and they have been planted in Oregon, Michigan, New Hampshire, Florida and California. Data were collected on these plants last summer including: the fruit quality traits; weight, firmness, skin toughness, external and internal color, achene position, flavor, shape, ease of capping and cap position, soluble solids, titratable acidity, pH, drip loss after freezing and thawing, and total anthocyanins, as well as remontancy, truss size, peduncle length, crop load, virus susceptibility, plant architecture and disease resistance. A SSR-based linkage map of Honeoye x Tribute was generated and the QTL associated with remontancy and duration of flowering were identified using phenotypic data collected in the field and greenhouse across multiple years. A number of QTL were found to be regulating total flowers at high temperatures in the greenhouse study, and several QTL regulating flower numbers were identified in the field trials, some of these being common to those found in the greenhouse study.

    Publications

    • Hancock, J.F. and Retamales, J.A.. 2011. The Blueberry.CABI Publishing, Oxon, UK
    • Alsmairat, N., Contreras, C., Hancock, J. Callow, P. and Beaudry, R. 2011. Use of combinations of commercially relevant O2 and CO2 partial pressures to evaluate the sensitivity of nine highbush blueberry fruit cultivars to controlled atmospheres. HortScience 46:74.


    Progress 01/01/10 to 12/31/10

    Outputs
    OUTPUTS: We are ready to distribute another 10 elite northern highbush selections to 8 MSU trailing partners for replicated trial and have generated seed for approximately 3,000 new hybrids. A second year of data was collected on the effects of harvest date and overall bush ripeness on flavor and storage of Liberty, Elliott and Aurora. We found that flavor can be enhanced in Aurora by delaying picking date, without substantially damaging storage life, and that fruit can be left hanging on Liberty for a long time without negatively impacting storage life. Both Liberty and Aurora had a much longer storage life than Elliott. We are participating in an USDA-SCRI grant to develop genomic resources for blueberry. Our group is focusing on using molecular markers to identify QTLs associated with cold hardiness, chilling requirement and fruit quality traits in the highbush blueberry. We have developed a mapping population of 105 individuals between the northern highbush cultivar Draper and the southern highbush cultivar Jewel. Cuttings have been made from the mapping population and planted at five locations in the US and Scotland. The mapping population has also been propagated and placed in a greenhouse to evaluate chilling requirement. We have sent 18 short-day (SDs) and day-neutral (DNs) elite selections of strawberries to trialing partners, and will ship another 10 - 12 mostly DNs in the spring. We also set a new breeding population of 7,500 F. x ananassa hybrids in the field for primary selection. We are participating in a USDA-funded multi-institutional and trans-disciplinary project, RosBREED: Enabling Marker-Assisted Breeding in Rosaceae. Our part of the project is to identify a crop reference sets that include genotypes and seedling populations representing the breadth of relevant diversity and encompassing founders used in breeding the domestic strawberry in both the USA and Europe. These were propagated and now are field planted in Oregon, Michigan, New Hampshire, Florida and California. Date over the next two years will be collected on fruit weight, firmness, skin toughness, soluble solids, titratable acidity, pH, external and internal color, flavor, shape, ease of capping, drip loss after freezing and thawing, and total anthocyanins for fruit quality attributes together with remontancy, crop load, disease resistance and plant architecture. A segregating population of 175 individuals of Honeoye x Tribute is being used to develop a linkage map for octoploid strawberry using SSR markers. Out of these, 115 individuals are from the Honeoye x Tribute population used by Weebadde et al. 2008. An additional 65 individuals were generated from a cross made in 2009. This additional set of 65 genotypes is also being used for identifying QTL related to day neutrality, fruit quality, and other commercially important traits. This population is being trialed in Oregon, Michigan, California and Florida, and will be evaluated under controlled conditions under three temperature regimes (18, 20 and 25 C). PARTICIPANTS: Pete Callow, Research Technician, Michigan State University TARGET AUDIENCES: Blueberry and strawberry growers and the consumers of their fruit. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period.

    Impacts
    The blueberry and strawberry cultivars developed in this project will benefit growers and consumers by providing improved fruit quality and disease resistance.

    Publications

    • Hummer, K.E. and J.F. Hancock. 2010. Strawberry genomics: Botanical history, cultivation, traditional breeding and new technologies. In: Genetics and Genomics of Rosaceae. Springer, New York.
    • Bradford, E., J.F.Hancock and R.W. Warner. 2010. Interactions of temperature and photoperiod determine expression of repeat flowering in strawberry. J. Amer. Soc. Hort. Sci. 135: 1-6.
    • Song, G.Q., W.H. Loescher, K.C. Sink, Y. Ma, T. Herlache, J.F. Hancock. 2010. A novel mannose-based selection system for plant transformation using celery mannose-6-phosphate reductase gene (M6PR). Plant Cell Reports 29: 163-172.
    • Bradford, E., J.F.Hancock and R.W. Warner. 2010. Interactions of temperature and photoperiod determine expression of repeat flowering in strawberry. J. Amer. Soc. Hort. Sci. 135: 1-6.
    • Hancock, J.F. C. E. Finn, J. J. Luby, A. Dale, P. W. Callow and S. Serce. 2010. Reconstruction of the strawberry, Fragaria ananassa, using native genotypes of F. virginiana and F. chiloensis. HortScience 45:1006-1013.
    • Stegmeir, T.L., C.E. Finn, R. Warner, and J.F. Hancock. 2010. Performance of an elite strawberry population derived from wild germplasm of Fragaria chiloensis and F. virginiana. HortScience 45:1140-1145.


    Progress 01/01/09 to 12/31/09

    Outputs
    OUTPUTS: Our new highbush cultivar Huron has now been offered to propagators. It is a productive, early ripening cultivar with very high fresh market quality and a long storage life. The first harvest of it falls between the most widely grown early cultivar Duke and the most important midseason ones, 'Draper' and 'Bluecrop'. 'Huron' has larger fruit than 'Bluecrop' and 'Duke', as well as a longer shelf life and much better flavor. It is a little smaller fruited than 'Draper' with slightly darker fruit, but its fruiting season is earlier and its fruit are better flavored. Two new highbush blueberry selections have gone out to our trialing partners: 1) MSU 90 - Very late. Upright with high yields. Very large fruit with excellent firmness, color and scar. Somewhat tart but sweeter than 'Aurora', and 2) MSU 91 - Very late. Upright with good yields. Very large, powder blue fruit with excellent firmness, color and scar. Nice sugar/acid balance. We have also released 10 elite strawberry genotypes for trialing as possible cultivars. Three of these are remontant and the rest are short day. We conducted a study on the effects of harvest date and overall bush ripeness on flavor and storage of 'Liberty', 'Elliott' and 'Aurora'. Overall, we found that flavor can be enhanced in 'Aurora' by delaying picking date, without substantially damaging storage life, and that fruit can be left hanging on 'Liberty' for a long time without negatively impacting storage life. Both 'Liberty' and 'Aurora' had a much longer storage life than 'Elliott'. As part of a part of a CSREES-SCRI grant, Generating genomic tools for blueberry improvement, we have developed a mapping population of 205 individuals between the northern highbush cultivar 'Draper' and the southern highbush cultivar 'Jewel'. Rooted cutting have been generated from 105 individuals of this population and have been planted in Florida, Georgia, Oregon, Scotland and Michigan. Next year we will collect the first data on date of leaf break, date of full bloom, date of harvest, proportion of flower buds damaged by cold, fruit size, color, firmness, weight, and scar. We have also generated a group of 16 strawberry families to identify QTL associated with fruit quality and remontancy as part of another SCREES-SCRI grant, RosBREED. These will be planted in Michigan, California and Oregon next year and phenotyped later in the season. PARTICIPANTS: Pete Callow, Research Technician, Horticulture Department, MSU; Lisa Rowland, Research Scientist, Genetic Improvement of Fruits and Vegetable Laboratory, USDA-ARS, Beltsville, MD; Chad Finn, Research Scientist, Horticultural Crops Research Laboratory, ARS-USDA, Corvallis, OR TARGET AUDIENCES: Strawberry and blueberry growers, small fruit marketing organizations, consumers PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period.

    Impacts
    The research is focused on generating new strawberry and blueberry cultivars using conventional and genomic technologies. The ultimate goal is to produce new varieties with high fruit quality that are well adapted to the midwestern and eastern USA. These new varieties will enhance the profitability of growers, and provide consumers with a pleasurable, nutritious experience.

    Publications

    • No publications reported this period


    Progress 01/01/08 to 12/31/08

    Outputs
    OUTPUTS: We have released a new northern highbush blueberry cultivar as Huron (MSU 47). It is of primarily Vaccinium corymbosum background, with the rest of its parentage being V. darrowii (12.5 %) and V. angustifolium (3.15 %). Huron is a productive, early ripening cultivar with very high fresh market quality and a long storage life. It has been more impressive in Michigan than the Pacific Northwest. Huron's berries are moderately large, have small, dry picking scars, medium blue color, excellent firmness and superior flavor, if allowed to fully ripen. The first harvest of Huron falls between the most widely grown early cultivar Duke and the most important midseason ones, Draper and Bluecrop. We have been conducting weekly taste panels of highbush fruit for the last four years. Among the northern highbush varieties, Spartan, Huron, Liberty and Brigitta have been the overall favorites. Legacy, Chandler, Draper and Aurora were in the next group. The least favorites were Bluetta, Earliblue and Berkeley. We have selected eight strawberry genotypes to be wider tested for possible release. Two of these selections are remontant and six are short day. Field production data have also been collected on the progeny of our Fragaria virginiana x F. chiloensis reconstruction cross (Frederick 9 x LH 50) x (Scotts Creek x MAR 1A) and work has been initiated to built a linkage map to search for QTL Levels of flowering have been compared in Honeoye, Tribute and the wild F. virginiana, RH 30, under a series of controlled temperature and photoperiod regimes. It appears that Tribute is much more tolerant of temperatures above 24 C than Honeoye and RH 30. This suggests to us that remontancy is dependent on both photoperiod insensitivity and heat tolerance. Genotypes from the Tribute x Honeoye population will be evaluated under the same set of environmental regimes to test this hypothesis. PARTICIPANTS: J.F. Hancock worked full time as a professor at Michigan State University and oversaw all the outlined studies. K. Lewers worked as a Scientist at the USDA-Beltsville and collaborated on the strawberry breeding work. P.A. Brevis worked as a full time postdoctoral associate at Michigan State University on the blueberry breeding project. C.A. Particka worked as a full time graduate student at Michigan State University in the strawberry breeding work. P. Callow worked as a full time research technician at Michigan State University in both the strawberry and blueberry breeding work. TARGET AUDIENCES: Blueberry and strawberry producers in cold winter climates. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Not relevant to this project.

    Impacts
    The blueberry cultivar Huron will provide growers with a new early ripening option with unusually high quality fruit. The baseline data being collected on blueberry flavor will help us better select the types of blueberry cultivars desired by consumers. The best performing genotypes of the strawberry reconstruction cross (Frederick 9 x LH 50) x (Scotts Creek x MAR 1A), will be used in future breeding work to capture new genetic variability for crop improvement. The ultimate goal of the heat tolerance work in strawberry is to find QTL that can be used in marker assisted breeding to develop superior remontant types.

    Publications

    • Hancock, J.F. (ed). (2008). Temperate Fruit Breeding: Germplasm to genomics. Springer Science+Business Media B.V.
    • Guo-Qing Song, K.C. Sink, P. W. Callow, R. Baughan and J.F. Hancock. (2008). Evaluation of a herbicide-resistant trait conferred by the bar gene driven by four distinct promoters in transgenic blueberry plants. J. Amer. Soc. Hort. Sci.133: 605 - 611.
    • P.A. Brevis, N.V. Bassil, J.R. Ballington, and J.F. Hancock. Impact of wide hybridization on highbush blueberry breeding. J. Amer. Soc. Hort. Sci., (2008) 133: 427 - 437.
    • C.A. Particka and J.F. Hancock. (2008). Breeding for increased tolerance to black root rot in strawberry. HortScience 43: 1698 - 1702.
    • J. Hancock, P. Callow, S. Serce, E. Hanson and R. Beaudry. (2008). Effect of cultivar, controlled atmosphere storage, and fruit ripeness on the long-term storage of highbush blueberries. HortTechnology 18: 199 - 205.
    • Luby J.J, A. Dale, J. F. Hancock and S. Serce. (2008). Reconstructing Fragaria x ananassa utilizing wild F. virginiana and F. chiloensis: Inheritance of winter injury, photoperiod sensitivity, fruit size, gender, female fertility and disease resistance in hybrid progenies. Euphytica 163: 57-65.
    • Hancock J.F and C. Stuber. (2008). Sustaining public plant breeding to meet future national needs. HortScience 43: 1-2.
    • Finn, C.E. and J.F. Hancock. (2008). Raspberry. In: J.F. Hancock (ed.). Temperate Fruit Breeding: Germplasm to Genomics. Kluwer Publishers, Dordrecht, The Netherlands
    • Hancock, J.F, J.J. Luby, S.K. Brown and G.A. Lobos. (2008). Apple. In: J.F. Hancock (ed.). Temperate Fruit Breeding: Germplasm to Genomics. Kluwer Publishers, Dordrecht, The Netherlands.
    • Hancock, J.F, P. Lyrene, C.A. Finn, N. Vorsa and G.A. Lobos. (2008). Blueberry and cranberry. In: J.F. Hancock (ed.). Temperate Fruit Breeding: Germplasm to Genomics. Kluwer Publishers, Dordrecht, The Netherlands.
    • Hancock, J.F, R. Scorza and G.A. Lobos. (2008). Peach. In: J.F. Hancock (ed.). Temperate Fruit Breeding: Germplasm to Genomics. Kluwer Publishers, Dordrecht, The Netherlands.
    • Hancock, J.F and G.A. Lobos. (2008). Pear. In: J.F. Hancock (ed.). Temperate Fruit Breeding: Germplasm to Genomics. Kluwer Publishers, Dordrecht, The Netherlands.


    Progress 01/01/07 to 12/31/07

    Outputs
    A new set of 10 - 12 elite selections of northern highbush blueberry hybrids are ready for distribution to our trialing partners. They cover a broad range of seasons and have very high fruit quality. We are likely to release a new cultivar (MSU 47) which has scored as one of the best flavored genotypes in our taste panels. We think its season will be between Duke and Draper. It may have a narrower adaptive range than the other MSU releases, as it has been more impressive in Michigan than Oregon. One of our Fragaria x ananassa reconstruction F1 families proved to be near commercial size, even though it was composed of completely wild germplasm of four subspecies from North and South America [(F. virginiana ssp virginiana - Frederich 9 x F. virginiana ssp glauca - LH 50) x (F. chiloensis ssp pacifica - Scotts Creek x F. chiloensis ssp patagonica - MAR 1A). This family has been replanted in the field in replicated design so that we can collect data on traits of horticultural importance and generate a linkage map using SSR markers. The ultimate goal is to make this family available to other plant breeders who can screen the population for their traits of interest and use the linkage map for QTL analysis and marker assisted breeding. We are also building molecular maps of two other segregating strawberry populations [Tribute x Honeoye and RH 30 (F. virginiana) x Honeoye] in collaboration with Kim Lewers at the USDA Fruit and Vegetable Improvement Laboratory. In Michigan, the cross Tribute x Honeoye generates about 50 % day-neutral progeny, while the cross RH 30 x Honeoye produces a highly variable number of day-neutrals depending on season. One major and several minor QTL have been identified so far that regulate day neutrality in these populations. One of these QTL may regulate whether plants can produce flowers under hot, mid-summer temperatures. In our strawberry breeding work, we have 20 elite selections in replicated trial, with about half being day-neutral. Another 30 short day and day-neutral selections will go into trial next year. Any genotypes that remain promising will be distributed for broader testing.

    Impacts
    Season long availability of high quality fruits and vegetables has long been a desire of consumers. Our goal is to generate a whole new generation of extremely high quality blueberries and strawberry cultivars that have minimum pesticide requirements. To do this, we are liberally incorporating wild species into the cultivated ackgrounds, in hopes of finding new, useful types of genes.

    Publications

    • Hanson, E.J., S.F. Berkheimer and J.F. Hancock. 2007. Seasonal changes in the cold hardiness of the flower buds of highbush blueberry with varying species ancestry. J. Am. Pom.Soc. 61: 14-18. Luby J.J, A. Dale, J. F. Hancock and S. Serce. 2007. Reconstructing Fragaria ananassa utilizing wild F. virginiana and F. chiloensis: Inheritance of winter injury, photoperiod sensitivity, fruit size, gender, female fertility and disease resistance in hybrid progenies. Euphytica (In press)
    • Hancock J. F., P. Callow, S. Serce, E. Hanson and R. Beaudry. 2007. Effect of cultivar, controlled atmosphere storage and fruit ripeness on the long term storage of highbush blueberries. HortTechnology (In press)
    • Weebadde CK, D. Wang, C.E. Finn, K.S. Lewers, J.J. Luby, J. Bushakra, T.M. Sjulin and J.F. Hancock. 2007. Mapping the genes associated with day-neutrality in strawberry. Plant Breeding (In press)
    • Smith B.J., S.C. Hokanson, J.F. Hancock, S. Serce, K.S. Lewers, J.L. Maas and W.W. Turechek. 2007. Evaluation of elite native strawberry germplasm for resistance to anthracnose crown rot caused by Colletotrichum species. J. Amer. Soc. Hort Sci. (In press)


    Progress 01/01/06 to 12/31/06

    Outputs
    A trialing arrangement has been set up to test the new MSU highbush blueberry selections with 10 participants in California, Michigan, Oregon, Washington, Belgium, Chile, Germany and the United Kingdom. The self fertility of Aurora, Liberty and Draper was compared to a number of commonly grown cultivars. Selfing had little effect on the fruit set of the MSU releases, but fruit size in Liberty and Aurora was diminished by about 25 percent, making it equivalent to Elliott and a little poorer than Duke. Fruit size in Draper was unaffected by self pollination. Fruit set in Brigitta was dramatically reduced by selfing, at a level of about 50 percent. In two years of taste panel trials, the most flavorful varieties have been found to be Spartan, Brigitta, Liberty, Jersey, Draper and Ozarkblue. Aurora, Duke and Elliott have followed in the middle of the pack. Bluetta and Earliblue have been the lowest rated. Several different densities and colors of shade cloth were placed over Aurora, Elliott and Liberty plantings to determine if dates of harvest could be delayed. Black 50 and 75 percent shade cloth delayed harvest the most dramatically by 7-10 days, but also significantly reduced fruit soluble solids. Red 50 and 70 percent delayed harvest by about 5 days with only minor impacts on soluble solids. In our strawberry reconstruction work, we have now undertaken a round of improvement within F. chiloensis and F. virginiana, and have field trialed our first group of F1 hybrids between elite representatives of the two species. Some really dramatic fruit sizes were recovered and one cross, (Frederick 9 x LH 50) x (Scotts Creek x Mar Brava), had almost commercial sized fruit. A new segregating population of RH 30 (F. virginiana) x Honeoye was generated that will be used to search for new genes that determine the day neutral trait. SSR markers will be used in this mapping effort.

    Impacts
    Season long availability of high quality fruits and vegetables has long been a desire of consumers. Our goal is to generate a whole new generation of extremely high quality blueberries and strawberry cultivars that have minimum pesticide requirements. To do this, we are liberally incorporating wild species into the cultivated ackgrounds, in hopes of finding new, useful types of genes.

    Publications

    • Gepts, P. and J.F. Hancock. 2006. The future of plant breeding. Crop Science 46: 1630-1634.
    • Hancock, J.F. 2006. Introduction to the Symposium: Who will train Plant Breeders. HortScience 41: 28-29.
    • Hancock, J.F. 2006. Northern highbush blueberry breeding. Acta Hort. 715: 37-40.
    • Hancock, J.F. 2006. California public strawberry breeders: A perfect marriage of genetics and culture. HortScience 41: 12-13.
    • Hancock, J.F. 2006. Highbush blueberry breeders: Collected insights. HortScience 41: 20-21.
    • Schilder, A.M.C., E. J. Hanson and J.F. Hancock. 2006. An integrated approach to disease control in blueberries in Michigan. Acta Hort. 715: 481-488.


    Progress 01/01/05 to 12/31/05

    Outputs
    A new set of 25 advanced highbush blueberry selections are being propagated for replicated trial. They span the whole season from early to late. Another 3,000 highbush hybrids are being grown to field size for planting this spring. The three recent MSU releases, Aurora, Draper and Liberty continue to look strong, although we have some preliminary data that suggest that Aurora and Liberty will perform best with a pollinator. Draper is completely self-fertile. A molecular map has been generated to identify genes associated with the inheritance of day neutrality in the cross Honeoye x Tribute. The same segregating population was phenotyped in California, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota and Oregon. Several QTL have been identified, with one major gene being uncovered in all the eastern study sites. A diallel crossing experiment was undertaken to determine the inheritance of black root rot resistance on fumigated and non fumigated soil. The preliminary indications are that only low levels of heritability exist within cultivar material, but putatively resistant genotypes were selected with superior horticultural traits.

    Impacts
    Season long availability of high quality fruits and vegetables has long been a desire of consumers. Our goal is to generate a whole new generation of extremely high quality blueberries and strawberries cultivars that have minimum pesticide requirements. To do this, we are liberally incorporating wild species into the cultivated backgrounds, in hopes of finding new, useful types of genes.

    Publications

    • Patrica, C.A. and Hancock, J. F. 2005. Field evaluation of strawberry genotypes for tolerance to black root rot on fumigated and non-fumigated soil. J. Amer. Soc. Hort. Sci. 130: 688-693.
    • Serce, S. and Hancock, J.F. 2005. Inheritance of day-neutrality in octoploid species of Fragaria. J. Amer. Soc. Hort. Sci. 130:580-585.
    • Serce, S. and Hancock, J.F. 2005. The temperature and photoperiod regulation of flowering and runnering in the strawberries, Fragaria chiloensis, F. virginiana and F. x ananassa. Scientia Hort. 103: 167-177.
    • Hancock, J.F., Drake, C.A. and Callow, P.W. 2005. Genetic improvement of the beach strawberry. HortScience 40: 1649-1650.
    • Carrasco,B., Hancock, J.F., Beaudry, R.M. and Retamales, J.B. 2005. Chemical composition and inheritance patterns of aroma in Fragaria x ananassa and F. virginiana progenies. HortScience 40: 1649-1650.


    Progress 01/01/04 to 12/31/04

    Outputs
    We expect to release the highbush blueberry selection MSU 32 next year. It is in Bluetta season and has had continually high yields at Grand Junction, Michigan, although it has not been as impressive at Corvallis, Oregon. The fruit is light blue in color, medium to large in size, tasty, with a small scar and good firmness. The bush is upright and will be much taller than Bluetta. It has an odd light green color, but this has not appeared to impact on its productivity. We have been comparing the storage life and rot resistance of fruit collected from cultivars at Grand Junction, MI for the last three years. The genotypes with the the longest storage life were Brigetta and Draper which averaged 9 weeks, followed by Aurora and Toro (8 weeks). The most resistant genotypes to Alternaria were Aurora, Draper, Brigetta and Elliott. The most resistant genotypes to Colletrotricum were Duke, Elliott, Bluejay, Toro and Aurora. There was little Botrytis infection in any year. Overall, the varieties with the least fungal rot were Elliot, Draper, Aurora and Toro. The genotypes with the the longest storage life were Brigetta and Draper which averaged 9 weeks, followed by Aurora and Toro (8 weeks). We have evaluated 19 cultivars of F. x ananassa and one F. virginiana genotype for the last two years on fumigated and non-fumigated soil. The site had previously been in strawberries for 5 years, and the soil was infested with Rhizoctonia sp., Pythium sp. and the root lesion nematode (Pratylenchus penetrans). Overall, yields were reduced by 40% without fumigation; however, there was significant variation in tolerance to BRR. While none of the cultivars proved resistant, yields in many of the cultivars from Nova Scotia were reduced by less than 20 %. We have begun to build a linkage map of the octoploid strawberry to determine if quantitative loci (QTL) can be identified for DN. Fifty-seven progeny from Tribute x Honeoye were genotyped with single dose restriction fragments (SDRF) of amplified fragment length polymorphisms (AFLP) markers. Out of 611 polymorphic bands obtained using 52 primer combinations, 410 single dose fragments (SDFs) were suitable to build a linkage map. The markers were separated into 37 linkage groups which contained at least two markers, and several putative QTL were detected that co-segregated with the trait data. Most of these QTL were not linked together which indicates that they represent different genes, confirming the quantitative nature of day-neutrality. We continue to do our strawberry breeding work in three stages: 1) we are intercrossing cultivars from different breeding programs to produce new unique types of F. x ananassa, 2) we are developing a number of wild x cultivar hybrids to intercross with each other and elite F. x ananassa, and 3) we are hybridizing the best clones of F. chiloensis with F. virginiana to systematically reconstruct F. x ananassa. At present, we have 13 selections of pure F.x ananassa that are ready to be put in replicated trial for possible release (11 DN and 2 SD), and our two hybrid populations appear to be only two or three generations away from yielding new cultivar types.

    Impacts
    The new blueberry varietal releases have superior fruit quality to existing ones, which could stimulate fresh market sales. The development of new day-neutral strawberry cultivars with BRR resistance could fill an important, late-season market niche in the eastern and mid-western US.

    Publications

    • Serce, S. and J.F. Hancock. 2004. Inheritance of day-neutrality in octoploid species of Fragaria (In press J. Amer. Soc. Hort. Sci.)
    • Hancock, J.F., S. Serce, C.M. Portman, P.A. Callow and J.J. Luby. 2004. Taxonomic variation among North and South American subspecies of Fragaria virginiana and F. chiloensis (In press Can. J. Bot.)
    • Hancock, J.F., C.A. Drake, P.W. Callow and S. Serce. 2004. Genetic improvement of the Chilean native strawberry, Fragaria chiloensis (In press HortScience).
    • Serce, S. and J.F. Hancock. 2004. The temperature and photoperiod regulation of flowering in Fragaria chiloensis, F. virginiana, and F. ananassa genotypes. (In press Sci. Hortic.).


    Progress 01/01/03 to 12/31/03

    Outputs
    Our program released two very late (Liberty and Aurora) and one early mid-season (Draper) blueberry variety. These are being micropropagated for distribution to licensed nurseries. Eighteen new elite highbush hybrids were selected and planted in replicated design, many containing complex species backgrounds. Twenty-seven new hybridizations of elite early and late MSU blueberry selections were made and the resulting seed are being germinated. In an effort to reconstruct F. x ananassa, we interbred a super elite group of 10 wild genotypes of F. chiloensis and F. virginiana and identified the best progeny for another round of crosses. About 20 promising hybrids of F. x ananassa and wild F. virginiana were also selected for further use in breeding; all had at least some degree of black root rot (BRR) resistance and about half are day-neutral. The performance of a group of twenty cultivars was compared on fumigated and non-fumigated soil, and Cabot, Bounty and Brunswick had the highest yields on non-fumigated soil. Crosses are now being made with these to study the genetics of resistance. AFLP markers are being utilized to search for QTL associated with day-neutrality in a segregating population of Honeoye x Tribute. So far, 30 linkage groups with three or more markers have been identified, but none are linked to day-neutrality.

    Impacts
    The new blueberry varietal releases have superior fruit quality to existing ones, which could stimulate fresh market sales. The development of new day-neutral strawberry cultivars with BRR resistance could fill an important, late-season market niche in the eastern and mid-western US.

    Publications

    • Hancock, J.F. 2003. Plant Evolution and the Origin of Crop Species. Second Edition. CAB International, Wallingford, UK.
    • Hancock, J.F., R. Beaudry and J. Luby and. 2003. Fruits of the Ericaceae. In: Encyclopedia of Temperate Fruit Crops. Elsevier, Inc.
    • Hancock, J. F. and K. Hokanson. 2003. Invasiveness of transgenic vs. exotic plant species: How useful is the analogy. In: S. H. Strauss and H. D. Bradshaw (eds.). The Bioengineered Forest: Challenges for Science and Technology.
    • Finn, C. E., J. F. Hancock, T. Mackey and S. Serce. 2003. Genotype x environmental interactions in highbush blueberry (Vaccinium sp. L.) Families grown in Michigan and Oregon. J. Amer. Soc. Hort. Sci. 128:196-200.
    • Hancock, J. F., P. W. Callow, S. Serce and P. Q. Phan. 2003. Variation in the horticultural characteristics of native Fragaria virginiana and F. chiloensis from North and South America. J. Amer. Soc. Hort. Sci. 128:201-208.
    • Hancock, J. F. 2003. A framework for assessing the risk of transgenic crops. BioScience 53:512-519.
    • Draper, A. and J. F. Hancock. 2003. Florida 4B: Native strawberry with exceptional breeding value. Journal of the American Pomological Society 57:138-141.
    • Serce, S. and J.F. Hancock. 2003. Assessment of day-nuetrality scoring methods in strawberry families grown in a greenhouse and field environments. Turkish Journal of Agriculture and Forestry 27: 191-198.


    Progress 01/01/02 to 12/31/02

    Outputs
    The MSU blueberry breeding program is in the process of releasing three new varieties, `Draper', `Liberty' and `Aurora'. `Draper' is a productive, early mid-season ripening cultivar with very high fresh market quality and probably a long storage life. It appears to be five days earlier ripening than `Bluecrop', partially filling a production void after the major early ripening cultivar `Duke'. `Liberty' and `Aurora' are two productive, very late ripening genotypes with high fresh market quality. `Liberty' has a harvest season that begins about 5 days before `Elliott', while Aurora is at least 5 days later. Crosses were made between day-neutral (DN) x shortday (SD) and DN x DN Fragaria x ananassa cultivars and elite clones of F. virginiana. Wide ranges in the percent of DN progeny were found in the various families (30 - 87% in DN x SD and 22 - 93% in DN x DN crosses), suggesting that day-neutrality in octoploid strawberries is a quantitative trait and not regulated by a single, dominant gene as previously suggested. Several other observations supported this conclusion including: 1) Less than half the families produced 1:1 or 3:1 ratios of DNs, 2) DN F. virginiana genotypes produced significantly different percentages of day-neutral progeny than DN F. x ananassa cultivars, 3) Different DN parents crossed to the same short day genotype produced different percentages of DN progeny, 4) None of the DN parents produced 100% DN progeny, 5) Some of the DN sources were more powerful than others in producing DN progeny. Both general and specific combining ability for DN were significant.

    Impacts
    Three new blueberry cultivars have been developed that will expand the North American production window and enhance grower profitability.

    Publications

    • A. M.Connor, J. J. Luby, J. F. Hancock, S. Berkheimer and E. J. Hanson. 2002. Changes in fruit antioxidant activity among blueberry cultivars during cold-temperature storage Agric. Food Chem. 50: 893-898.
    • Serce, S., P. W. Callow, H. J. Ho, J. F. Hancock. 2002. High temperature effects on CO2assimilation rate in genotypes of Fragaria x ananassa, F. chiloensis and F. virginiana J. Amer. Pomolog. Soc. 56: 57-62.
    • A. U. Connor, J. J. Luby, C. B. S. Tong, C. E. Finn and J. F. Hancock. 2002. Genotypic and environmental variation in antioxidant activity, total phenolic content, and anthocyanin content among blueberry cultivars. J. Am. Soc. Hortic. Sci. 127: 89-97.
    • Qu, L. and J. F. Hancock. 2002. Pitfalls of genetic analysis using a doubled-haploid backcrossed to its parent. Theor. Appl. Genet. 105: 392-396.
    • Hancock, J.F., J.J. Luby, A. Dale, P. W. Callow, S. Serce and A. El-Shiek. 2002. Utilizing wild Fragaria virginiana in strawberry cultivar development: Inheritance of photoperiod sensitivity, fruit size, gender, female fertility and disease resistance. Euphytica 126: 177-184.
    • Owens, C.L., M. F. Thomashow, J. F. Hancock and A. F. Iezzoni. 2002. CBF1 orthologs in sour cherry and strawberry and the heterologous expression of CBF1 in strawberry. J. Am. Soc. Hortic. Sci. 127: 489-494.
    • Serce, S and J. F. Hancock. 2002. Screening of strawberry germplasm for resistance to the two- spotted spider mite. Hortscience 37: 593-594.


    Progress 01/01/01 to 12/31/01

    Outputs
    We have two highbush blueberries hybrids that are nearing release, MSU-24 and MSU-50. MSU-24 (Duke x US 751) is about a week later than Bluecrop and has much higher fruit quality. MSU-50 (Brigetta x Elliott) is about Elliott season but has much higher fruit quality and has a longer post-harvest life. For the third year, we compared the storability of Bluecrop, Bluegold, Brigetta, Elliott, Nelson and several of the late MSU selections of Brigetta x Elliott. Bluegold, MSU-50, Brigetta, MSU-58 and Nelson had the firmest fruit, showed the least internal bruising, and had the highest soluble solids at harvest. The fruit of these genotypes remained salable for up to 5 weeks of storage. A number of crosses were made between day-neutral and short day types to determine the genetics of photoperiod sensitivity in octoploid Fragaria. The data indicate that there are multiple sources of day-neutrality in natural populations and that photoperiod sensitivity is probably regulated as a quantitative trait. At least four QTLs have been identified using RAPD and AFLP markers. Orthologs of CBF1, a cold-induced transcription factor important in the cold acclimation response in Arabidopsis, were cloned from strawberry (Fragaria A' ananassa) with degenerate PCR primers. The putative ortholog has 48% amino acid identity to CBF1 and mRNA levels were up regulated in leaves following exposure to 4 degrees C. Agrobacterium-mediated transformation of a CaMV35S-CBF1 construct was conducted on Fragaria A' ananassa Honeoye crown discs. Receptacle tissues of the transgenic lines showed no significant change in freezing tolerance when compared to wild type plants. However, the temperature at which 50 % electrolyte leakage occurred in leaf-discs was significantly greater than the value for wild type. A number of potential breeding parents were identified in greenhouse comparisons of 275 native strawberry clones from the National Clonal Germplasm Repository. Most notably, CFRA 1121 had unusually long peduncles and much higher than average values for fruit weight, soluble solids, fruit color and seed set, CFRA 0366 possessed unusually long peduncles and had the largest fruit of any North American genotype, CFRA 0560 and 1369 had an unusual combination of multiple flowering cycles and high runner production, CFRA 1170 and 1171 were unusually late fruiting and had high numbers of large fruit on long peduncles, and CFRA 1385 and JP 95-3-1 had extremely high flower numbers, long peduncles and large fruit.

    Impacts
    Our research will ultimately lead to improved varieties of blueberries and strawberries with greater fruit quality and enhanced tolerance to biotic and abiotic stresses

    Publications

    • Conner, A.M., J.J. Luby, C.B.S. Tong, C.E. Finn and J.F. Hancock. 2001. Genotypic and environmental variation in antioxidant activity, total phenolic content and anthocyanin content among blueberry cultivars. J. Amer. Soc. Hort. Sci. 127:89-97.
    • Hancock, J.F., P.W. Callow, A. Dale, J.J. Luby, C.E. Finn and S.C. Hokanson. 2001. From the Andes to the Rockies: Native strawberry collection and utilization. HortScience 36:221-224.
    • Hancock, J.F., C.A. Finn, S.C. Hokanson, J.J. Luby, B.L. Goulart, K. Demchak, P.W. Callow, S. Serces, A.M.C. Schilder and K.E. Hummer. 2001. A mutistate comparison of native octoploid strawberries from North and South America. J. Amer. Soc. Hort. Sci. 126:579-586.
    • Qu, L. and J.F. Hancock. 2001. Detecting and mapping repulsion phase linkages in polyploids with polysomic inheritance. Theor. Appl. Genet. 103: 136-143


    Progress 01/01/00 to 12/31/00

    Outputs
    Over 25 of our highbush blueberry selections are now being evaluated at five locations in Michigan and Oregon. We are particularly excited about 5 very late fruiting genotypes that have excellent fruit quality and store particularly well. We compared the post-harvest storability of eight highbush cultivars and selections. MSU 58, `Brigetta', and `Legacy' had the firmest fruit, showed the least internal bruising, and had the highest soluble solids at harvest. These three genotypes remained firm with high soluble solids for 5-6 weeks of storage, even though their percentage of defects gradually increased. `Bluegold' and `Nelson' were not as firm and had lower soluble solids than the above three cultivars, but maintained good quality for 5 weeks of storage. The firmness and soluble solids of `Elliott' were initially close to `Bluegold' and `Brigetta', but `Elliott' fruit deteriorated rapidly and within two weeks, most were unsalable. Our 'supercore' collection of 38 strawberry genotypes was set in replicated design at five locations across the United States. Among the best performing, broadly-adapted genotypes were PI 551735 (FRA 368) with its unusually large, early fruit, and PIs 612486 (NC 95-19-1), 612493 (Frederick 9) and 612499 (RH 30), which were very vigorous and had unusually good color. Other genotypes that were impressive at individual sites were PIs 551527 (FRA 110) and 551728 (Pigeon Pt.) in Md. for their large fruit. PI 612490 (Scotts Creek) in Ore. had extremely large fruit, superior color, firmness and flavor. Several genotypes performed well as day-neutrals including PI 612495 (LH 50), PI 612498 (RH 23) and PI 612499 (RH 30). The genetics of flowering date, fruit size, gender, female fertility, disease resistance and photoperiod sensitivity were investigated in progeny of F. virginiana and F. x ananassa. Most notable were the large fruit and high fertility observed in crosses with High Falls 22 and Montreal River 10 of F. virginiana. Progeny populations of short-day F. virginiana x day-neutral F x ananassa, generally fit the ratios expected if day-neutrality is regulated by a single dominant gene; however, most day-neutral F. virginiana x short-day F. x ananassa families did not.

    Impacts
    Our research will ultimately lead to improved varieties of blueberries and strawberries with greater fruit quality and enhanced tolerance to biotic and abiotic stresses

    Publications

    • Hancock, J. F. 2000. Strawberries. In: A. Erez (ed.). Temperate fruit crops in warm climates. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordreht, The Netherlands.
    • Kirschbaum, D.S. and J.F. Hancock. 2000. The strawberry (Fragaria x ananassa)industry in selected South American countries. HortScience 35:807-811.
    • VanEe, Gary, R. Ledebuhr, E. Hanson, J. Hancock and D.C. Ramsdell. 2000. Canopy development and spray deposition in highbush blueberry. HortTechnology 10:353-359.
    • Hanson, E., J. Hancock, D.C. Ramsdell, A. Schilder, G. VanEe and R. Ledebuhr. 2000. Sprayer type and pruning effect the incidence of blueberry fruit rots. HortScience 35:235-238.
    • Hancock, J.F., P. Callow, R. Keesler, D. Prince and B. Bordelon. 2000. A crop estimation technique for blueberries. J. Amer. Pom. Soc. 54:123-129.
    • Hokanson, K. and J.F. Hancock. 2000. Self incompatibility and early acting inbreeding depression in diploid and tetraploid species of Vaccinium (Ericaceae). Sexual Plant Reproduction 13: 145-150.


    Progress 01/01/99 to 12/31/99

    Outputs
    An elite group of 38 native strawberry clones from both North and South America were field tested. Some of the most impressive genotypes were the F. chiloensis clones, FRA 24 (Chile), FRA 368 (Alaska) and FRA 372 (Peru), and the F. virginiana clones, LH 50-4 (Wyoming), Montreal River 10 (Ontario), NC 95-19-1 and NC 96-35-2 (North Carolina). FRA 24 is perhaps the best F. chiloensis clone, showing exceptional yield potential and good resistance to our foliar pathogens, although it has little apparent tolerance to cold. NC 96-35-2 has very soft fruit, but is very large fruited and high yielding with relatively disease free leaves. LH 50-4 has the largest fruit and highest vigor of all the F. virginiana ssp glauca collected from the Rockies. We have set the 7 most impressive genotypes on fumigated and non-fumigated soil to test their resistance to soil pathogens. In other work, we have discovered that strawberry flowers can cold acclimate. When blooming plants were exposed to 4 C and 16 H light for 14 days, non-acclimated `Chandler' receptacles had an EL 50 of -2.9 C, while non-acclimated `Honeoye' had an EL50 of -3.4 C. Conversely, acclimated `Chandler' receptacles had an EL 50 of -7.7 and acclimated `Honeoye' receptacles had an EL 50 of -9.7 C, both are significantly different from non-acclimated values. We have set 40 elite blueberry selections in replicated designs at three locations in Michigan and two in Oregon. The most exciting genotypes are in the Elliott season, but with better fruit quality. We are trying to extend the storage life of blueberries to at least two months, by optimizing post-harvest storage conditions, nutrition and the physiological stage that fruit are picked. So far, we have found that the most significant advances in storage capacity may come from new cultivars, as `Bluegold' and `Brigetta' showed exceptional storage capacity. CA storage (2 Kpa O2, 8 kPa CO2, 90% relative humidity) appeared to provide little benefit over ambient air, except a slight reduction in rot over long periods of time. Modest increases in fruit calcium (0.43 - 0.47%) and nitrogen (1.7 - 2.1%) levels had little influence on long term storage. We also saw a glimpse that stage of bush ripeness may influence post-harvest storage, but unusually hot temperatures last summer accelerated the harvest season and made evaluation difficult.

    Impacts
    Our research will ultimately lead to improved varieties of blueberries and strawberries with greater fruit quality and inhanced tolerance to biotic and abiotic stresses.

    Publications

    • Hancock, J. F. 1999. Strawberries. CABI Publishing. Wallingford, UK. Le, H.T., Hancock,J.F.., Trihn, T., and Ho,P. 1999. Germplasm resources in Vietnam: Major horticultural and industrial crops. HortScience 34: 1-6.
    • Hancock, J.F., Lavin,A., and Retamales,J. 1999. Our southern strawberry heritage: Fragaria chiloensis (L.) Duch. of Chile. HortScience 34:814-816.
    • Le, H.T., Hancock, J.F. and Trinh, T. 1999. Important intrduced fruit crops in Vietnam and their native relatives. Frt. Var. J. 53:172-181.
    • Scheerens, J.C., Erb, W.A., Goulart, B.L. and Hancock,J.F. 1999. Blueberry hybrids with complex genetic backgrounds evaluated on mineral soils. Stature, growth rate, yield potential, and adaptibility to mineral soils as influenced by parental species. Frt. Var. J. 53:73-90.
    • Le, H.T., Hancock,J.F., Trinh,T., and Ho,P. 1999. Rice genetic resources in Vietnam. Diversity 15: 18-20.


    Progress 01/01/98 to 12/31/98

    Outputs
    We have now field tested over 15,000 hybrids involving F. virginiana X F. x ananassa and F. chiloensis X F. x ananassa (with J. Luby and A. Dale). An elite set of hybrids have been selected and will be crossed this winter. We have selected a super core of native F. virginiana and F. chiloensis with valuable horticultural traits. The genotypes are now being compared in California (T. Sjulin), Maryland (S. Hokanson), Michigan, Minnesota (J. Luby), Pennsylvania (B. Goulart) and Oregon (C. Finn). To identify additional valuable native genotypes, we have obtained a representative collection of the octoploid holdings of the National Clonal Repository. We have planted almost 300 native clones in a replicated design in our greenhouse and plan to evaluate them for patterns of morphological and RAPD variation. A wide range of cultivars and native selections of F. chiloensis and F. virginiana were screened for their performance on fumigated and non-fumigated soils. Considerable variability for runner and fruit production were observed with `Surecrop', MSU 309 (Seascape x Frederick 9), MSU 245-4 (Tribute x Montreal River 10) and MSU 213-2 (Cardinal x RH18) performing particularly well for both characteristics, while `Annapolis', `Midway', `Fern', `Seascape' and `Chandler' were among the worst. We selected another 8 late blooming highbush types at Benton Harbor, MI for replicated trial. Growing degree calculations were made at first bloom, full bloom and petal drop in `Bluecrop' and `Jersey' using 20 different upper and lower threshold measurements (-10 to 10 C and 15 to 35 C). Overall, calendar date predictions were slightly better predictors of harvest date than the best GDD estimates. Seed have been collected to measure out-crossing rates in native populations of lowbush and highbush blueberry.

    Impacts
    (N/A)

    Publications

    • Le, Hoan T., J. F. Hancock and T. Trinh. 1998. The fruit crops of Vietnam: Introduced species and their native relatives. Frt. Var. J. 52:158-168.
    • Beaudry, R. M., C. E. Moggia, J. B. Retamales, and J. F. Hancock. 1998. Effect of maturity, shipping mode and storage regime on the quality of `Ivanhoe' and `Bluecrop' blueberry fruit transported from Chile to North America. J. Amer. Soc. Hort. Sci. 33:313-317.
    • Qu, Luping, J. F. Hancock and J. H. Whallon. 1998. Evolution in an autopolyploid group displaying predominantly Bivalent pairing at meiosis: Genomic similarity of diploid Vaccinium darrowi and autotetraploid V. corymbosum. Amer. J. Bot. 85:698-703.
    • Hancock, J.F., B.L. Goulart, J.J. Luby and M.P. Pritts. 1998. The strawberry matted row: Practical cropping system or dated anachronism? Adv. Strawberry Research 16: 1-4.
    • Hokanson, K. and J.F. Hancock. 1998. Levels of allozymic diversity in diploid and tetraploid Vaccinium sect. Cyanococcus (blueberries). Can. J. Plt. Sci. 78:234-242.
    • Finn, C., J. Hancock and C. Heider. 1998. Notes on the strawberry industry of Ecuador and the community of farmers. HortScience 33:583-589.
    • Hancock, J.F. 1998. Critical issues involving crop germplasm diversity and conservation: Introduction to the colloquium. HortScience 33:1120-1121.
    • Holtsford, T. And J. Hancock. 1998. Evolution, population genetics and germplasm preservation. HortScience 33:1121-1123.
    • Hancock, J. 1998. Using southern blueberry species in northern highbush breeding. Proc. 8th Amer. Blueberry Res. Ext. Workers Conf. May 27-29, Wilmington, North Carolina, pp. 91-94.
    • Dale, A and Hancock, J. 1998. Scheduling of irrigation in northern highbush blueberries. Proc. 8th Amer. Blueberry Res. Ext. Workers Conf. May 27-29, Wilmington, North Carolina, pp. 156-160.


    Progress 01/01/97 to 12/31/97

    Outputs
    The F. x ananassa reconstruction project continues. Thirty-six elite hybrids of native F. virginiana x F. chiloensis were selected out of a field-planted population of 2,500. While fruit sizes were not as impressive as the F. virginiana x F. x ananassa crosses previously evaluated, many of the interspecific hybrids had fruit that was significantly larger than mid-parent. We began evaluating the performance of eastern cultivars and our elite F1 hybrids on fumigated and non-fumigated soil. Most of the eastern types produced significantly fewer plants on non-fumigated soil, although `Surecrop', `Glooscap' and some of the hybrids appeared to be little effected by the native soil pathogens. A super elite collection of wild day-neutral and short day strawberries have been selected for disease resistance, fruit quality and physiological screening. We are particularly interested in finding new sources of day-neutrality genes in these native strawberry populations. Preliminary indications are that multiple sources are available and some appear to have high heat tolerance. In related work, we still have not been successful in finding RAPD markers linked to the Cal-Davis day-neutrality gene, even though over 300 polymorphic markers have been screened. Experiments were initiated to prevent overbearing in `Bluecrop' using summer applications of GA. Several new late hybrids were selected in our blueberry breeding project that have `Duke', `Elliott' and `Darrow' in their background. Draper's hybrid G292 looks very promising as a late type, while `Legacy' and `Brigetta' are not sufficiently hardy in Michigan. Work was begun to develop a harvest date prediction equation using bloom date and degree day information. High and low threshold temperatures of -10 and 21 C provided the best fit with the phenological stages, but all temperature combinations between -10 and 35 were significantly associated.

    Impacts
    (N/A)

    Publications

    • Hancock, J.F., Scheerens, J., Goulart, B., Erb, A. 1997. Blueberry hybrids with complex genetic backgrounds evaluated on mineral soils: I. Cold hardiness as influenced by parental species and location. Acta Hort. 446:389-396.
    • Hanson, E.J., Vanee, G.R., Ramsdell, D.C., Hancock, J.F., Flore, J.A. 1997. Improved sprayer technology to reduce fungicide use in blueberry production. Acta Hort. 446:439-446.
    • Sakin, M., Hancock, J.F., Luby, J.J. 1997. Identifying new sources of genes which determine cyclic flowering in Rocky Mountain populations of Fragaria virginiana. J. Amer. Soc. Hort. Sci. 122:205-210.
    • Qu, L., Hancock, J.F. 1997. RAPD-based genetic linkage map of blueberry derived from an interspecific cross between diploid Vaccinium darrowi and tetraploid V. corymbosum. J. Amer. Soc. Hort. Sci. 122: 69-73.
    • Harrison, R.E., Luby, J.J., Furnier, G.R., Hancock, J.F. 1997. Morphological and molecular variation among populations of octoploid Fragaria virginiana and F. chiloensis (Rosaceae) from North America. Amer. J. Bot. 84:612-620.
    • Hancock, J.F., Finn, C., Heider, C. 1997. A farmer based attempt to conserve the historic Andean strawberry. Chronica Horticulturae 37:14-16.
    • Hokanson, S.C., Grumet, R., Hancock, J.F. 1997. Effect of border rows and trap/donor ratios on pollen-mediated gene movement. Ecol. Appl. 7:1075-1081.
    • Hancock, J.F. 1997. The colchicine story. HortScience 32:1011-1012.
    • Hokanson, S.C., Hancock, J.F., Grumet, R. 1997. Direct comparison of pollen-mediated movement of native and engineered genes. Euphytica 96:397-403.