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Title: 'TRIPLE CROWN' THORNLESS BLACKBERRY

Author
item Galletta, Gene
item Maas, John
item CLARK, JOHN - UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS
item Finn, Chad

Submitted to: Fruit Varieties Journal
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 2/22/1998
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: Improved thornless blackberry varieties are produced by breeders to meet the demands of growers who wish to maintain an economic advantage in the marketplace. We have introduced the variety Triple Crown for growers in the Mid-Atlantic, the lower Midwest, and New England and the Pacific Coast regions to fill a niche for a high quality, midseason ripening, shipping and local market variety, Triple Crown is a midsummer-ripening thornless blackberry variety suitable for fresh or processed use developed by the Agricultural Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture. Triple Crown combines characteristics of Chester Thornless, Hull Thornless, Black Satin thornless, and Darrow blackberries. Fruit of Triple Crown are uniformly glossy black, firm, large, slightly longer than broad, and possess a balanced subacid, sweet and aromatic flavor with a pleasant aftertaste. The fruit is distributed and presented on numerous fruiting laterals in a uniform manner that makes it easier to harvest than in other thornless varieties. Its plant hardiness is similar to that of Chester Thornless. It is expected that Triple Crown will fill a mid-summer thornless blackberry niche for U-pick, roadside market, and shipping market growers.

Technical Abstract: Triple Crown is a midsummer-ripening thornless blackberry cultivar [Rubus sp., subgenus Rubus (Eubatus)] suitable for fresh or processed use developed and released by the Agricultural Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture. Triple Crown, tested as US 1638, was selected in 1983 at Beltsville, Maryland from his Beltsville cross of SIUS 68-2-5 (=C 47) þ Arkansas 545 (Darrow þ Brazos). SIUS 68-2-5 (Black Satin þ SIUS 64-21-4) is a thornless selection and SIUS 64-21-4 is a full sibling of Hull Thornless and Chester Thornless blackberries. Triple Crown has grown and fruited well in several locations in Beltsville and in Arkansas from 1985-1995, and also at Corvallis, Oregon, where eight year old plants yielded in excess of 30 pounds per plant in 1995. It is expected to be well adapted to the Mid-Atlantic, the lower Midwest, and New England and the Pacific Coast regions. Triple Crown was introduced as an earlier ripening compliment to the late-maturing Chester Thornless blackberry and was released to nurseries in 1996.