Progress in strawberry breeding at NIAB-EMR, East Malling, UK

The public strawberry breeding at East Malling (NIAB-EMR), Kent, United Kingdom (UK) has successfully released 43 cultivars, primarily to the northern European market, since its inception in 1983. In 2008 the East Malling Strawberry Breeding Club (EMSBC), a public-private partnership, was formed to continue to fund the development of new cultivars, with a renewal of funding in 2013 following the withdrawal of all direct government support. The EMSBC objectives are to develop a range of high quality cultivars with overlapping seasons, which crop in succession and combine excellent fruit quality with high yield, low percentage waste and resistance to fungal diseases. Since 2008 the programme has released five new cultivars ('Buddy', 'Malling (TM) Centenary', 'Malling (TM) Star', 'Strawbino', 'Serenity'), with a further two cultivars ('Malling (TM) Glow' and 'Malling (TM) Sunrise') being released by Meiosis Ltd. from the legacy programme which predates the EMSBC. A number of promising advanced selections ('EM1996', 'EM2056', 'EMR564', 'EMR590', 'EMR639') are in the final large-scale trials, and show commercial potential. Recent developments in allied projects at NIAB-EMR have offered opportunities for the EMSBC programme to evolve, and since 2015 a marker assisted breeding approach has been instigated, primarily to pyramid resistance to Verticillium dahliae.