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ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Corvallis, Oregon » National Clonal Germplasm Repository » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #347541
Title: Cranberry vulnerability statement

Author
item Hummer, Kim
item Lewers, Kimberly
item Bassil, Nahla
item VORSA, NICK - Rutgers University
item Zalapa, Juan
item IORIZZO, MASSIMO - North Carolina State University
item Williams, Karen
item TZANETAKIS, IONNIS - University Of Arkansas

Submitted to: Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN)
Publication Type: Government Publication
Publication Acceptance Date: 3/2/2018
Publication Date: 3/2/2018
Citation: Hummer, K.E., Lewers, K.S., Bassil, N.V., Vorsa, N., Zalapa, J.E., Iorizzo, M., Williams, K.A., Tzanetakis, I. 2018. Cranberry vulnerability statement. Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN). https://www.ars-grin.gov/npgs/cgc_reports/cranberry_vulnerability_statement_2017.pdf.

Interpretive Summary: Cranberries are native to North America. The U.S. is the world’s largest producer with Canada and Chile also producing significant quantities. The top producing states are Wisconsin, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Washington, Oregon, and Maine. In 2016, production was 683.725 tons. The economic value of fresh and processed cranberry production in the U.S. is $3.55 billion annually and represents > 11,600 jobs. In Canada, the value is $411 million and includes > 2,700 jobs. The desired fruit trait attributes of cranberry varieties has progressed over the last 100 years as the end products have changed. Initially high pectin content was a premium attribute for cranberry for sauce, followed by high anthocyanin content for juice drinks. Currently the main product is sweetend-dried-cranberry (SDC) for trail snacks. The fruit attributes include consistent berry color, large fruit size (>2g/berry), and firmer fruit. A broad genepool for genetic improvement exists at the national cranberry genebank which is located at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Agricultural Research Service, National Clonal Germplasm Repository (NCGR) at Corvallis, Oregon. The genebank collection includes 81 species of crop wild relatives. The NCGR genebank contains 333 cranberry/crop wild relatives of cranberry. The NCGR genebank includes a primary collection of living plants and their crop wild relatives, grown in containers in protected enviroments such as screenhouses and greenhouses. Inects that carry diseases, are excluded from these houses. Integrated pest management techniques minimize key pests. A core collection representing world species and heritage cultivars has been defined. A secondary backup of the core collection is maintained in vitro under refrigeration. A long-term backup core collection of meristems and tissue culture plantlets was placed in cryogenic storage at the USDA ARS Plant and Animal Genetic Resources Preservation, Ft. Collins, Colorado. Wild species diversity is represented by seed lots stored in freezers. Plants at Corvallis are tested for common diseases as resources allow but this testing may not completely meet the requirements of some foreign countries. Identity is checked by comparison with written description, review by botanical and horticultural taxonomic experts, and evaluation by molecular markers. A set of molecular markers for cultivar identification is under development.The collection is documented for accession, inventory, voucher images, and morphological and genetic observations on the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN-Global) in Beltsville, Maryland. More than 1,200 cranberry accessions have been distributed to international and domestic requestors during the past 25 years.

Technical Abstract: Cranberries, Vaccinium macrocarpon Aiton, are native to North America. The U.S. is the world’s largest producer with Canada and Chile also producing significant quantities. The top producing states are Wisconsin, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Washington, Oregon, and Maine. In 2016, production was 683.725 tons. The economic value of fresh and processed cranberry production in the U.S. is $3.55 billion annually and represents > 11,600 jobs. In Canada, the value is $411 million and includes > 2,700 jobs. The desired fruit trait attributes of cranberry varieties has progressed over the last 100 years as the end products have changed. Initially high pectin content was a premium attribute for cranberry for sauce, followed by high anthocyanin content for juice drinks. Currently the main product is sweetend-dried-cranberry (SDC) for trail snacks. The fruit attributes for SDCs include homogeneous berry color, an anthocyanin color window, large fruit size (>2g/berry), and higher fruit firmness. A broad genepool for genetic improvement exists at the national cranberry genebank which is located at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Agricultural Research Service, National Clonal Germplasm Repository (NCGR) at Corvallis, Oregon. The genebank collection includes 81 Vaccinium taxa. The NCGR genebank contains 333 cranberry/crop wild relatives of cranberry (146 V. macrocarpon, 77 V. oxycoccus, and 110 V. vitis- idaea). The NCGR genebank includes a primary collection of living plants and their crop wild relatives, grown in containers in protected enviroments such as screenhouses and greenhouses. Aphids, which vector viruses, are excluded from these houses. Integrated pest management techniques minimize key pests. A core collection representing world species and heritage cultivars has been defined. A secondary backup of the core collection is maintained in vitro under refrigeration. A long-term backup core collection of meristems and tissue culture plantlets was placed in cryogenic storage at the USDA ARS Plant and Animal Genetic Resources Preservation, Ft. Collins, Colorado. Wild species diversity is represented by seed lots stored at -18o C. Plants at Corvallis are tested for common viruses, viroids, and phytoplasmas as resources allow but this testing may not completely meet the requirements of some foreign countries. Identity is checked by comparison with written description, review by botanical and horticultural taxonomic experts, and evaluation by molecular markers, such as simple sequence repeat markers. A set of single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers for cultivar identification is under development.The collection is documented for accession, inventory, voucher images, and morphological and genetic observations on the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN-Global) in Beltsville, Maryland. More than 1,200 V. macrocarpon accessions have been distributed to international and domestic requestors during the past 25 years. In 2017, the collection had > 85 V. macrocarpon cultivars and 61 clones and 58 seedlots representing the wild species.