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ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Corvallis, Oregon » National Clonal Germplasm Repository » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #328157
Title: Flowering tendencies in strawberry species in the USDA collection

Author
item Hummer, Kim
item Oliphant, James - Jim
item Bassil, Nahla

Submitted to: International Journal of Fruit Science
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 3/31/2016
Publication Date: 7/20/2016
Citation: Hummer, K.E., Oliphant, J.M., Bassil, N.V. 2016. Flowering tendencies in strawberry species in the USDA collection. International Journal of Fruit Science. doi: 10.1080/15538362.2016.1195309.

Interpretive Summary: The U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Clonal Germplasm Repository (NCGR), Corvallis, Oregon, maintains a national genebank for strawberry, Fragaria L. This collection includes diverse species maintained in screenhouses. The plants are exposed to an annual temperature regime that allows flowering. The objective of this project was to examine the flowering tendencies of octoploid strawberry taxa growing in Corvallis to determine if the blooms were seasonal (once per year) or perpetual (remontant). For each of 68 clones of nine taxa, flower presence was recorded on the first day of the month from June through October in 2002 and again in 2004. The complete flower trusses were removed after scoring. Plants flowering only in June-July were considered “seasonal flowering”; those with later flowers, “perpetual flowering”. Considering the results for both years, 12 clones of North American the beach strawberry flowered seasonally, significantly different than eight clones of South American red fruited type, which were perpetual flowering. An additional clone of the beach strawberry from Hartney Bay, Alaska, was perpetual flowering while the flowering in two clones of the white-fruited South American and one of the Hawaiian strawberries were seasonal. About half of the Virginia strawberry clones flowered seasonally; the two clones from Utah and the remaining Eastern clones flowered perpetually. This clonal phenotypic information is of specific use for breeders and geneticists seeking information on flowering tendencies in strawberries or other related genera. This study will be continued and broadened to include diverse global species.

Technical Abstract: The U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Clonal Germplasm Repository (NCGR), Corvallis, Oregon, maintains a national genebank for strawberry, Fragaria L. This collection includes diverse species maintained in screenhouses. The plants are exposed to an annual temperature regime that allows flowering. The objective of this project was to examine the flowering tendencies of octoploid strawberry taxa growing in Corvallis to determine if the blooms were seasonal (once per year) or perpetual (remontant). For each of 68 clones of nine taxa, flower presence was recorded on the first day of the month from June through October in 2002 and again in 2004. The complete flower trusses were removed after scoring. Plants flowering only in June-July were considered “seasonal flowering”; those with later flowers, “perpetual flowering”. Considering the results for both years, 12 clones of North American F. chiloensis subsp. lucida (E. Vilm. ex Gay) Staudt and 12 clones of F. c. subsp. pacifica Staudt flowered seasonally, significantly different than eight clones of F. chiloensis subsp. chiloensis f. patagonica Staudt, which were perpetual flowering. An additional clone of F. chiloensis subsp. pacifica from Hartney Bay, Alaska was perpetual flowering while flowering in two clones of South American F. chiloensis subsp. chiloensis f. chiloensis (L.) Mill. and one of the Hawaiian F. chiloensis subsp. sandwicensis (Decne.) Staudt was seasonal. The eight clones of Fragaria virginiana subsp. grayana (Vilm. ex J. Gay) Staudt and eight of 16 clones of F. virginiana subsp. virginiana Mill. flowered seasonally; the two clones F. virginiana subsp. glauca (S. Watson) Staudt and the remaining F. virginiana subsp. virginiana clones flowered perpetually. Flowers of a clone of F. virginiana subsp. platypetala (Rydb.) Staudt from California bloomed seasonally while a second one from Eastern Oregon bloomed perpetually. This clonal phenotypic information is of specific use for breeders and geneticists seeking information on flowering tendencies in Fragaria or other Rosaceous genera. This study will be continued and broadened to include diverse global species.