The focus of the Washington State University raspberry breeding program is breeding floricane fruiting raspberry cultivars for the Pacific Northwest that combine machine harvestability with root rot tolerance. This study compared selection for root rot tolerance with adaptation to machine harvesting. In 2007, crosses were made among promising selections with the goal of 140 seedlings for each of 30 crosses. Half of the seedlings from each cross were planted with a cooperating grower in Mount Vernon, WA in 2008. These seedlings were machine harvested in 2010 and 2011 and selections made while machine harvesting the seedlings. The remaining seedlings from these crosses were planted at the Washington State University Goss Farm, Puyallup, WA. The Puyallup Goss Farm is known for having high levels of Phytophthora, and seedlings at this site are subjected to root rot pressure. Seedlings at each location were also evaluated subjectively for yield, ease of harvest, firmness, color and flavor. There were differences in selection rate for the crosses between the two locations. At Mount Vernon, 76 selections were made among 2,160 seedlings ( 3.5%), where the crosses with the most selections were WSU 1638 x WSU 1447 (15% selected) and WSU 1447 x Chemanius (14% selected). WSU 1447 was a parent of 6 of the 7 "best crosses" and a parent of 52 of the 76 selections. At Puyallup, 31 selections were made among the 2,114 seedlings (1.5%), where the cross with the most selections was WSU 1447 x WSU 0697 (7% selected). Neither WSU 1447 nor WSU 0697 have any obvious root rot tolerant parents. Six of the seven crosses with more than one selection at the Puyallup had `Cascade Bounty' or WSU 1499 as parents, both known to be root rot tolerant.

‘WSU 2166’ is a new floricane fruiting raspberry cultivar (Rubus idaeus L.) released by Washington State University (WSU). ‘WSU 2166’ produces large, firm fruit that are well suited to machine harvesting and for processing. Because of its flavor, large fruit, attractive appearance, and easy fruit release at an early stage of maturity, ‘WSU 2166’ also should be suitable for fresh market use. It has good levels of tolerance to Phytophthora rubi (Man in ‘t Veld, 2007) in field trials.

‘Marys Peak’ is a new June-bearing (short-day) strawberry (Fragaria ·ananassa Duchesne ex Rozier) cultivar from the U.S. Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS) breeding program in Corvallis, OR, released in cooperation with the Oregon Agricultural Experiment Station. The most outstanding characteristic of ‘Marys Peak’ is its excellent fruit quality as a processed or fresh product. Its flavor, size, firmness, color, low incidence of botrytis fruit rot (Botrytis cinerea Pers.), and yield are particularly notable. A U.S. plant patent application (S.N. 15/ 330,507) has been submitted.

fruit breeding, Rubus idaeus, primocane-fruiting, annual bearing 'Kokanee' (Fig. 1) is a new primocanefruiting red

The Washington State University (WSU) raspberry breeding program in Puyallup began in 1928 as a response to local raspberry growers' concern about the decline in the raspberry cultivar 'Cuthbert'. They were hoping that changes in cultural practices could restore the productivity of 'Cuthbert'. However, a lack of winter hardiness and a general need to improve the crop was identified, and the raspberry breeding program was initiated. In the 86 years since its inception, the breeding program has responded to the changing needs of the raspberry industry. Thirteen raspberry cultivars have been released by WSU, including 'Meeker' which has been the leading raspberry cultivar in the Pacific Northwest for over 20 years. Today, the focus of the breeding program is on new floricane fruiting raspberry cultivars for the Pacific northwest that combine machine harvestability, root rot tolerance and Raspberry bushy dwarf virus (RBDV) resistance with favorable fruit characteristics of flavor, color and suitability for processing.

Cascade Harvest' produces a high yield of large, firm fruit suited to machine harvesting, and is well suited

The root lesion nematode, Pratylench us penetrans, is a production-limiting pest in red raspberry, Rubus idaeus. Genetic resistance, as a tool to manage P. penetrans in raspberries, would reduce the impact of this nematode on raspberry productivity as well as reduce the need for pre- and/or post-plant chemical treatments to keep populations in control. The host status of 11 Rubus species (R. coreanus, R. crataegifolius, R. innominatus, R. leucodermis, R. niveus, R. parviflorus, R. parvifolius, R. pungens, R. spectabilis, R. sumatranus, and R. odoratus) for P. penetrans was evaluated in greenhouse studies. Additionally, hybrids of R. cockburnianus, R. lasiostylus, R. niveus, R. phoenicolasis, and R. sumatranus with R. idaeus 'Meeker' or `Tulameen' were evaluated. The industry standard R. idaeus 'Meeker' was included in all trials as the control. Across trials, R. niveus and R. leucodermis were identified as poor hosts for P. penetrans. In addition, when another selection of R. niveus was evaluated in the final year of this study, it was also a poor host for P. penetrans. Among the remaining Rubus species materials tested, there were no consistent differences in host status for P. penetrans. It appears that R. niveus and R. leucodermis might be sources of resistance for P. penetrans. However, a hybrid between R. niveus and R. idaeus `Tulameen' did not consistently support fewer P. penetrans than the 'Meeker' control. These results indicate that more research is needed to learn about the inheritance of the putative resistance.

Published February 2014. Please look for up-to-date information in the OSU Extension Catalog: http://extension.oregonstate.edu/catalog

Cascade Gold' is a new gold-fruited, floricane fruiting

Charm' is a high-yielding cultivar that produces medium-large sized, easily capped fruit with excellent fruit

Background Rapid development of highly saturated genetic maps aids molecular breeding, which can accelerate gain per breeding cycle in woody perennial plants such as Rubus idaeus (red raspberry). Recently, robust genotyping methods based on high-throughput sequencing were developed, which provide high marker density, but result in some genotype errors and a large number of missing genotype values. Imputation can reduce the number of missing values and can correct genotyping errors, but current methods of imputation require a reference genome and thus are not an option for most species. Results Genotyping by Sequencing (GBS) was used to produce highly saturated maps for a R. idaeus pseudo-testcross progeny. While low coverage and high variance in sequencing resulted in a large number of missing values for some individuals, a novel method of imputation based on maximum likelihood marker ordering from initial marker segregation overcame the challenge of missing values, and made map construction computationally tractable. The two resulting parental maps contained 4521 and 2391 molecular markers spanning 462.7 and 376.6 cM respectively over seven linkage groups. Detection of precise genomic regions with segregation distortion was possible because of map saturation. Microsatellites (SSRs) linked these results to published maps for cross-validation and map comparison. Conclusions GBS together with genome-independent imputation provides a rapid method for genetic map construction in any pseudo-testcross progeny. Our method of imputation estimates the correct genotype call of missing values and corrects genotyping errors that lead to inflated map size and reduced precision in marker placement. Comparison of SSRs to published R. idaeus maps showed that the linkage maps constructed with GBS and our method of imputation were robust, and marker positioning reliable. The high marker density allowed identification of genomic regions with segregation distortion in R. idaeus , which may help to identify deleterious alleles that are the basis of inbreeding depression in the species.

The purpose of the study was to identify key sensory attributes that influence consumer liking for frozen and fresh red raspberries using preference mapping. Sensory profiling of different raspberry cultivars and selections from the Washington State Univ. and Oregon State Univ. breeding programs was carried out using a trained panel (frozen, n = 12 and fresh, n = 10). In addition, a subset of frozen and fresh raspberries of each cultivar was assessed by consumers for sensory acceptability (n = 105 and n = 100, respectively). Based on overall hedonic ratings, cluster analysis identified 3 clusters of frozen raspberry consumers from day 1 (41% “nondistinguishers,” 34% “likers,” and 25% “nonlikers”) and day 2 (41% “group 1 likers,” 26% “nonlikers,” and 34% and 33% group 2 likers”). For fresh raspberry consumers, 2 clusters were detected from day 1 (54% “likers” and 46% nondistinguishers”) and day 2 (54% “group 1 likers” and 46% “group 2 likers”). Preference mapping was applied on the descriptive sensory and acceptability of clustered consumer data. Partial least squares regression results showed that liking of frozen raspberries was driven by high raspberry flavor, firmness, and sweetness. Conversely, disliking of frozen raspberries was related to high sour and aftertaste intensity. In the case of fresh raspberries, high color uniformity, raspberry aroma, raspberry flavor, floral aroma, green flavor, bitter, astringency, and aftertaste increased the acceptability, whereas high color intensity and green aroma were associated with negative drivers of liking. The information obtained in this study can be a useful guide for breeders in the selection of characteristics for growing superior quality raspberries.

Thirty red raspberry genotypes, including newly released cultivars and advanced selections from diverse breeding programs, were evaluated for response to Phytophthora root rot over three years on a natively infested field site. Plants were evaluated quantitatively and qualitatively for root rot symptoms and cane growth over three years and compared to known resistant and susceptible cultivars. Cultivars 'Cascade Bounty', 'Jaclyn', 'Newburgh', 'Cascade Delight', 'Prelude', 'Sumner', Moutere', Ukee', 'Josephine', and advanced selections WSU 1499 and WSU 1447 had root rot responses similar to 'Summit' and were identified as resistant to the disease.

Raspberry bushy dwarf virus (RBDV) is a serious problem in all red raspberry (Rubus idaeus L.) producing areas. RBDV is a pollen-borne virus that can affect drupelet set, resulting in crumbly fruit, but symptom expression appears to differ among raspberry genotypes. This study was undertaken to determine effects of RBDV on fruit of selected raspberry cultivars grown in the Pacific Northwest region of the U. S. Plants infected with RBDV and noninfected plants of five cultivars ('Cascade Bounty', 'Chilliwack', 'Malahat', 'Meeker' and 'Tulameen') were established in a replicated factorial design, and evaluated for yield, fruit weight, fruit firmness, drupelet number, and drupelet weight. Overall virus effects on fruit quality were lower firmness, fewer drupelets, and larger drupelets. However, 'Malahat' and 'Tulameen' were largely relatively unaffected by virus infection, giving rise to a cultivar x RBDV interaction on several measurements. Symptom expression in this planting may be influenced by the presence of other viruses.