Location: Genetic Improvement for Fruits & Vegetables Laboratory
2022 Annual Report
Accomplishments
1. ‘Cordial’ strawberry cultivar was released (USPP33636P2). Strawberries fruit for only a few weeks in spring, and one strategy growers use to extend their marketing season is to grow different cultivars with early, mid, and late season production. Current cultivars available to Mid-Atlantic growers for the late season are very susceptible to anthracnose fruit rot and either too soft and tender for consumer acceptance or produce so late that the fruit are lost to summer heat. ARS researchers at Beltsville, Maryland, released and patented ‘Cordial’, a late-season, “once-fruiting” strawberry resistant to anthracnose fruit rot, and with very high yield of large firm berries with superior skin integrity and outstanding shelf life. The berries can have cotton-candy aromatic overtones to the flavor, and are not acidic, even in cool overcast and rainy growing conditions. ‘Cordial’ is expected to have greatest value to growers in the Mid-Atlantic and other hot growing conditions where other cultivars fail to perform. Plants of ‘Cordial’ were sent to two U.S. nurseries and have been requested by a nursery in Canada. A Canadian patent application is in process.