Sweet Sunrise strawberry is new high-yielding, June-bearing cultivar from the ARS breeding program in Corvallis, Oregon. Click the image for more information about it.

New Berries from ARS

By Sharon Durham
April 22, 2015

Two new berries have been developed thanks to U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientists at the Horticultural Crops Research Unit in Corvallis, Oregon, and their collaborators.

Berries of all types are wonderful additions to a healthy diet, providing nutrients, fiber and flavor. Sweet Sunrise (U.S. PP 25,223) is a new strawberry cultivar from the Corvallis breeding program, which is led by Agricultural Research Service (ARS) plant geneticist Chad Finn. This strawberry was released in cooperation with the Oregon Agricultural Experiment Station (OAES) and Washington State University’s Agricultural Research Center.

ARS is the USDA’s chief intramural scientific research agency.

Sweet Sunrise is a high-yielding cultivar that ripens in June. It produces large, firm attractive fruit having excellent quality. According to Finn, Sweet Sunrise was high-yielding in every trial and location. Yields are comparable to, or higher than, those of other recent releases such as Charm, Valley Red, and Sweet Bliss or the industry standards Tillamook, Totem, and Hood. In all evaluations, Sweet Sunrise was rated excellent and comparable to Totem for commercial processors.

Finn also developed Columbia Star (U.S. patent applied for), a thornless, trailing blackberry cultivar from the same breeding program as Sweet Sunrise. Columbia Star was released in 2013 in cooperation with OAES.

The new blackberry is a high-quality, high-yielding, machine-harvestable blackberry with firm, sweet fruit that when processed is similar in quality to, or better than, fruit from the industry standards Marion and Black Diamond.

Both of these new berry cultivars will be good additions to the fresh- and processed-fruit markets, according to Finn.

Read more about this research in the April issue of AgResearch magazine.