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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Fort Pierce, Florida » U.S. Horticultural Research Laboratory » Citrus and Other Subtropical Products Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #366363
Research Project: Quality, Shelf-life and Health Benefits for Fresh, Fresh-cut and Processed Products for Citrus and Other Tropical/Subtropical-grown Fruits and Vegetables

Location: Citrus and Other Subtropical Products Research

Title: 'Florida Brilliance' strawberry

Author
item WHITAKER, VANCE - University Of Florida
item PERES, NATALIA - University Of Florida
item OSORIO, LUIS - University Of Florida
item FAN, ZHEN - University Of Florida
item NUNES, CECILIA - University Of South Florida
item Plotto, Anne
item SIMS, CHARLES - University Of Florida

Submitted to: HortScience
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 8/2/2019
Publication Date: 2/1/2019
Citation: Whitaker, V., Peres, N., Osorio, L., Fan, Z., Nunes, C., Plotto, A., Sims, C. 2019. 'Florida Brilliance' strawberry. HortScience. 54(11):2073-2077. https://doi.org/10.21273/HORTSCI14327-19.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.21273/HORTSCI14327-19

Interpretive Summary: ‘Florida Radiance’ is currently the leading strawberry cultivar grown in Florida, followed by Sweet Sensation® ‘Florida 127’. ‘Florida Brilliance’ fills an ever increasing demand for early ripening fruit, with harvest spanning from Thanksgiving to late March. Its yield at that time is comparable to ‘Radiance’ but it produces more consistent and greater quality fruit early in the season. Its eating quality to be equivalent to ‘Florida 127’ and greater than ‘Florida Radiance’ in most taste panels, supported by instrumental data (soluble solids and titratable acidity). This cultivar has already been planted in small acreage and is expected to represent 40% to 50% of the Florida acreage in the 2019-2020 season.

Technical Abstract: The leading strawberry (Fragaria x ananassa) grown in Florida is currently ‘Florida Radiance’, an early and high yielding cultivar that has a uniformly-shaped, medium-sized and attractive fruit and an open plant architecture and long stems which allow for efficient harvesting. The second leading cultivar is Sweet Sensation® ‘Florida127’, a cultivar characterized by an excellent flavor and a robust plant. Florida’s market window is from late November through March and Florida growers must take maximum advantage of high prices at the beginning of the season when market supply is lowest. ‘Florida Brilliance’ strawberry (U.S. Patent PP30,564) responds to this niche with high early season yields as well as excellent overall fruit quality and disease resistance. This paper presents yields, fruit quality (soluble solids content, titratable acidity and consumer and descriptive taste panels) over a period of three seasons (2 to 4 harvests per season). Furthermore, mortality due to Colletotrichum crown rot, Phytophthora crown rot and charcoal rot was lower than for ‘Florida Radiance’ in two consecutive years. Disease incidence due to anthracnose fruit rot, Botrytis fruit rot and powdery mildew varied with season.