Black Raspberry Research in NC (and OR, NY and OH)

Hi everyone, I’m Christine Bradish and I’m a PhD student here in the Rubus breeding program at North Carolina State University.  My research is part of a national USDA-SCRI sponsored grant that is taking place in Oregon (USDA-ARS), Ohio (OSU), New York (Cornell), and here in North Carolina (NCSU), and is focused on improving black raspberries for disease and insect-resistance, wider production ranges, and increased market awareness.  Black raspberries are native to North America and have been cultivated since the late 19^th century; however diseases and a narrow gene pool has led to a severe decline in production over the last 75 years.  Currently, black raspberry production is focused in the Pacific Northwest and the berries are used in processed products, such as jams, jellies, ice creams, and baked goods.

Black raspberries harvested from Jackson Springs, NC on May 29, 2013.

As part of the project, we have identical plantings of 275 black raspberry plants at locations in all four states.  The fields were planted in April 2012, and will be evaluated through 2014.  My responsibility is to take data on approximately 40 different traits for each plant, ranging from heat tolerance and disease resistance to fruit size and thorn shape.  An example of the levels of a trait, fruit set is below. 

Measuring fertility of plants: poor fruit set (above)  versus fully fertile fruit (right). 

Yesterday was exciting, because we had our first harvest!  The fruit is as good as it looks. I along with the rest of the group of scientists involved in this research will be providing updates throughout this project, as we start to learn more about this exciting crop.

We have a website linked to this project: http://www.black-raspberries.com/aboutresearchers.html

Here is the USDA NIFA page: http://cris.nifa.usda.gov/cgi-bin/starfinder/0?path=fastlink1.txt&id=anon&pass=&search=R=49101&format=WEBFMT6NT

Blackberry Virus Project part 2

Last year I mentioned that NC State University was part of a USDA-SCRI grant "Mangement of Virus Complexes in Rubus". This is a multidiciplinary project that involves breeders, virologists and entomologists. The project aims are to: 1. Develop and validate diagnostic tests for the viruses involved in these complexes and transfer these validated tests to interested parties; 2. Identify candidate virus vectors based on virus genomics with greenhouse transmission testing; 3. Identify virus combinations capable of causing severe disease outbreaks, and; 4. Evaluate virus and vector resistance in Rubus germplasm; conduct field transmission tests to determine when viruses are being spread in the field and implement targeted control based on vector biology for management of the diseases and; 5. Communicate the results: Outreach, Education and Implementation for growers, extension agents, and agricultural consultants.

This is a collaborative project with the University of Arkansas, USDA-ARS in Corvallis, Mississippi State University and NC State University. For my part of this project, we are evaluating elite germplasm from 3 breeding programs at the institutions listed above. We sent plants to each other that we considered candidates for release as cultivars and planted them in spring of 2011. These selections were tested for viruses prior to being sent out and were considered to be free of known viruses. Within a year of planting, most of the selections that we have in NC were showing symptoms as is illustrated in the photos. This are a couple of examples of what we saw in our field at the Sandhills Research Station in Jackson Springs NC in May. The upper photo has small crinkled leaves and the lower plant (a different selection) has yellowing of the leaves. This just shows how varied virus symptoms can be in the same location.

For more hot off the press information on the virus identification part of this project, here is a link to a poster that will be presented next week at the ASHS meeting http://ashs.org/abstracts/m/abstracts12/abstract_id_10149.html

More background information on this project can be found at http://cris.nifa.usda.gov/cgi-bin/starfinder/0?path=fastlink1.txt&id=anon&pass=&search=R=33882&format=WEBLINK