Blackberry (Rubus subgenus Rubus Watson) production has the potential to expand into the northern Great Plains with the development of the rotating cross-arm (RCA) trellis system that prevents winter injury by laying the plants horizontal to the ground so that they can be covered during cold periods. However, this will only occur with the evaluation of new cultivars and overwintering protection methods associated with the RCA trellis system. Ten cultivars under four rowcover treatments were evaluated for winter damage, vegetative growth, yield, and fruit quality. Thermo-couples monitored air temperature under each rowcover treatment. Results indicated that rowcovers differed in their ability to moderate winter air temperatures. However, temperature moderation differences from rowcovers did not correspond to plant growth differences. Instead, cultivar influenced plant growth differences. Plants under the thermal blanket with corn stover had greater yield and more berries, while fruit quality was unaffected by rowcover treatment. Differences were also found between cultivars for fruit quantity and quality. Although rowcovers enabled overwintering primocanes to produce fruit after winter temperatures reached −30
Abstract
Twelve seedling populations involving large, intermediate, and small-fruited parental clones of tetraploid blackberries were evaluated for fruit size inheritance. The amount and type of variation and the significant deviations from the mid-parent means in seedling distributions indicated that inheritance was quantitative with partial dominance for small fruit size. Maximum heritability, estimated by the genetic variance/phenotypic variance, was 0.76. Narrowsense heritability, estimated by regressing progeny on the mid-parents, was 0.62, indicating that most of the genetic variability (82%) was transmittable through the sexual cycle (gametes). These results suggest that simple breeding procedures based on inter-mating parent clones selected on the basis of their phenotypic performance are likely to produce significant genetic gains in fruit size of blackberries.
genes. European and American raspberry ( Rubus L. subgenus Idaeobatus ) cultivars have benefitted greatly from Asian heritage by plant improvement through breeding. In addition, Asian berry species harvested by native peoples from wild stands have
of the subgenus Rubus in their pedigrees ( Clark and Finn, 2011 ; Watson, 1958 ). Clark et al. (2007) classified North American blackberry cultivars into two groups. The first group consists of erect and semierect blackberries (2 n = 4 x = 28
Blackberry ( Rubus subgenus Rubus Watson) production has greatly increased since 2005 in North America, Central America, Australia, and Europe as a result of newly developed floricane-fruiting and primocane-fruiting cultivars from both university
Fresh-market blackberries ( Rubus L. subgenus Rubus Watson) are hand-picked to maintain quality from harvest to consumption. Mechanical harvesting of processing blackberries decreases labor costs and harvest time ( Takeda and Peterson, 1999
Blackberries, collectively known as Rubus L. subgenus Rubus Watson, are a group of taxonomically complex plants grown for their succulent aggregate fruits. Blackberry production in the United States has risen dramatically within the last
Worldwide commercial blackberry ( Rubus subgenus Rubus ) production was 140,292 Mg planted in over 20,000 ha in 2005 ( Strik et al., 2007 ). North America represented 42%, Europe 31%, Asia 19%, and other regions 8% of the total world production
Univ., Corvallis McCoy, J.E. Clark, J.R. Salgado, A.A. Jecmen, A. 2016 Evaluation of harvest time/temperature and storage temperature on postharvest incidence or red drupelet reversion development and firmness of blackberry ( Rubus L. subgenus Rubus
L. subgenus Rubus Watson) affected by red drupelet reversion Postharvest Biol. Technol. 153 183 190 doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.postharvbio.2019.04.012 10.1016/j.postharvbio.2019.04.012 Edgley, M. Close, D.C. Measham, P.F. 2020