Article from
VSCNews, Vegetable and Specialty Crop News
Source: University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural
Sciences
Florida Brilliance Shines on State’s
Strawberry Industry
For years, University of Florida scientists
looked for a few
characteristics in a more desirable strawberry. Among those traits was
a higher yield in November and December — the early part of the Florida
season when prices are highest.
‘Florida Brilliance’ on a commercial farm near Plant City, Florida in
late February 2018
They
also sought better fruit for the consumer. That meant a longer shelf
life, better flavor, improved shape and other traits, said Vance
Whitaker, an associate professor of horticultural sciences at the
University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences
(UF/IFAS).
After a lot hard work, and through traditional breeding methods,
UF/IFAS researchers came up with Florida Brilliance.
“Our
farmers need to produce more strawberries during this period in order
to remain profitable,” Whitaker, the strawberry breeder for UF/IFAS,
said. “This variety has beautiful, flavorful fruit that is available
consistently throughout the season, from Thanksgiving to late March in
Florida, and thus on grocery store shelves in the eastern United States
during this period. Much of the beauty of the fruit comes from its
glossy, shiny appearance, thus the name Florida Brilliance.”
Adam
Young, who runs a farm in Dover, Florida, said he’s using Florida
Brilliance on about 45 acres, which represents about 25 percent of his
land. Thus far, he’s happy with the results.
“It takes the
weather better,” Young said. “The fruit shape is more uniform. It
definitely looks like we’re going to use it as our workhorse.”
Todd Jameson of Berry Bay Farms in nearby Wimauma, Florida, said rain
does little damage to Florida Brilliance strawberries.
“Vance has a winner with this one,” Jameson said.
Whitaker
and his research team developed Florida Brilliance through conventional
cross-pollination, in which scientists choose two strawberry varieties
as parents. Researchers chose the parent strawberries for their
different but complementary characteristics.
They transfer
pollen from one plant to the flower of the other using a camel’s hair
brush and collect the seeds from the resulting strawberries. Scientists
then grow a couple of hundred seedlings from each cross and evaluate
them. They choose and test the seedlings with the best characteristics
from both parents.
Farmers are growing Florida Brilliance on
about 1,500 acres in Hillsborough County, according to the Florida
Strawberry Growers Association. That’s about 15 percent of the overall
strawberry acreage in Florida. The previous record acreage for the
first year of a new UF/IFAS strawberry variety was 500 acres for
Florida Beauty, and that was in 2017, said Whitaker, a faculty member
at the UF/IFAS Gulf Coast Research and Education Center in Balm,
Florida.
“This is definitely unusual and represents the high
level of interest generated among growers from trials the last two
years,” Whitaker said. “Growers tell us that this variety will replace
the current standard, Florida Radiance, as quickly as planting stock is
available. Next year, 40 percent to 50 percent of the industry could be
planted in this variety.”
For growers, Florida Brilliance
resists many diseases, and that cuts production costs, Whitaker said.
It is also very easy to harvest because it has long stems and an open
plant canopy that allows the pickers to see the fruit easily.
Labor is the largest cost in strawberry farming, so this is important,
Whitaker said.
“The
fruit are firm and resist bruising, allowing the grower to generate a
better quality product,” he said. “For consumers, it is the brilliant
gloss and the freshness of the fruit that make it stand out.”
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Bibliography
"Florida Brilliance Shines on State’s Strawberry Industry." Vegetable and Specialty Crop News, 15 Jan. 2019,
vscnews.com/uf-ifas-florida-brilliance-strawberry/.
Accessed 18 Sept. 2019.
Photographs
Whitaker, Vance M. "'Florida Brilliance’ on a commercial farm near
Plant City, Florida in late February 2018." Horticultural Sciences Dept.,
UF/IFAS Extension, AskIFAS, edis.ifas.ufl.edu/hs1322.
Accessed 18 Sept. 2019.
Published 18 Sept. 2019 LR
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