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ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Corvallis, Oregon » Horticultural Crops Research Unit » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #305530
Title: ‘Columbia Star’ thornless trailing blackberry

Author
item Finn, Chad
item STRIK, BERNADINE - Oregon State University
item YORGEY, BRIAN - Oregon State University
item Peterson, Mary
item Lee, Jungmin
item Martin, Robert
item HALL, HARVEY - Shekinah Berries, Ltd

Submitted to: HortScience
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 6/21/2014
Publication Date: 9/1/2014
Citation: Finn, C.E., Strik, B.C., Yorgey, B.M., Peterson, M.E., Lee, J., Martin, R.R., Hall, H.K. 2014. ‘Columbia Star’ thornless trailing blackberry. HortScience. 49(8):1108–1112.

Interpretive Summary: ‘Columbia Star’ is a new thornless, trailing blackberry cultivar from the U.S. Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS) breeding program in Corvallis, OR, released in cooperation with the Oregon State University’s Agricultural Experiment Station. Columbia Star’ is introduced as a very high quality, high yielding, machine harvestable, thornless trailing blackberry with firm, sweet fruit that when processed are similar in quality to or better than fruit from the industry standards ‘Marion’ and ‘Black Diamond’. ‘Columbia Star’ should be adapted to areas where other trailing blackberries can be grown successfully. ‘Columbia Star’, tested as ORUS 3447-1 was selected in Corvallis, OR in 2008 from a cross made in 2005 of NZ 9629-1 and ORUS 1350-2 (‘Black Butte’ x ORUS 828-43). ‘The two immediate parents represented elite selections from the New Zealand and the Oregon breeding programs. ‘Columbia Star’ is introduced as a very high-quality, high-yielding, machine-harvestable, thornless trailing blackberry with firm, sweet fruit that, when processed, are similar in quality to or better than fruit from ‘Marion’. 'Columbia Star' is patent pending.

Technical Abstract: ‘Columbia Star’ is a new thornless, trailing blackberry (Rubus subg. Rubus Watson) cultivar from the U.S. Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS) breeding program in Corvallis, OR, released in cooperation with the Oregon State University’s Agricultural Experiment Station. We believe ‘Columbia Star’ is the first thornless blackberry to be released with the ‘Lincoln Logan’ source of thornlessness in its background other than the original ‘Lincoln Logan’ and ‘Waimate’ that have ‘Logan’-type fruit, and ‘Marahau’ that has ‘Boysen’ type fruit. ‘Columbia Star’ is introduced as a very high quality, high yielding, machine harvestable, thornless trailing blackberry with firm, sweet fruit that when processed are similar in quality to or better than fruit from the industry standards ‘Marion’ and ‘Black Diamond’. ‘Columbia Star’ should be adapted to areas where other trailing blackberries can be grown successfully. ‘Columbia Star’, tested as ORUS 3447-1 was selected in Corvallis, OR in 2008 from a cross made in 2005 of NZ 9629-1 and ORUS 1350-2 (‘Black Butte’ x ORUS 828-43). ‘Columbia Star’ inherited its thornlessness (botanically “spineless” but commonly referred to as “thornless” in industry and research communities) from NZ 9629-1, which is a selection made in Oregon from a population produced by H.K. Hall then with the New Zealand Crown Research Institute ‘HortResearch’. ‘Columbia Star’s background is extremely diverse. ‘Marion’ accounts for 20% of ‘Columbia Star’s background based on pedigree. The two immediate parents represented elite selections from the New Zealand and the Oregon breeding programs. ‘Columbia Star’ is introduced as a very high-quality, high-yielding, machine-harvestable, thornless trailing blackberry with firm, sweet fruit that, when processed, are similar in quality to or better than fruit from ‘Marion’. 'Columbia Star' is patent pending.