Strawberry plant named ‘MERIT’

Abstract

This invention relates to a new and distinct variety of strawberry plant named ‘MERIT’. This new strawberry plant named ‘MERIT’ is primarily adapted to the growing conditions of the central coast of California, and is primarily characterized by its small fruit size; orange red to red fruit color; uniformly shaped conical berries; and small sized plant.

Description

Latin name of the genus and species of the plant claimed: Fragaria ananassa.

Variety denomination: ‘MERIT’.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a new and distinct strawberry variety named ‘MERIT’. This new variety is a result of a controlled cross made in 2001 in an ongoing breeding program between strawberry variety designated ‘PS-2880’ (patented, U.S. Plant Pat. No. 15,597) and strawberry variety designated ‘PS-4630’ (a non-patented selection). Due to the combining of the reciprocal seed lots it is unknown as to which parent variety is the seed parent and which parent variety is the pollen parent. The variety is botanically known as Fragaria ananassa.

The seedling resulting from the aforementioned cross was selected from a controlled breeding plot in Ventura County, California in the fall of 2003. After its selection, the new variety was asexually propagated by stolons in both San Joaquin County, California and Siskiyou County, California. The new variety was extensively tested over the next several years in fruiting fields in Ventura County, California. This propagation has demonstrated that the combination of traits disclosed herein as characterizing the new variety are fixed and remain true to type through successive generations of asexual reproduction.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

‘MERIT’ is primarily adapted to the climate and growing conditions of the central coast of California. The nearby Pacific Ocean provides the needed humidity and moderate temperatures to produce a strong vigorous plant and maintain fruit quality during the fall production months.

The following traits have been repeatedly observed and are determined to be unique characteristics of ‘MERIT’, which in combination distinguish this strawberry plant as a new and distinct variety:

• • 1. Small fruit size;
  • 2. Orange-red to red fruit color;
  • 3. Uniformly shaped, conical berries;
  • 4. Small sized plant;
  • 5. Fruiting trusses that are visible above the foliage; and
  • 6. Relatively short fruiting trusses

The strawberry varieties that are believed to be most closely related to the new strawberry variety ‘MERIT’ are the strawberry variety ‘VALOR’ (patented, U.S. Plant Pat. No. 20,394) and the strawberry variety ‘PREMIER’ (patented, U.S. Plant Pat. No. 20,309). In side-by-side comparisons to the similar strawberry varieties ‘VALOR’ and ‘PREMIER’, the new strawberry variety ‘MERIT’ differs by the following combination of characteristics as described in Table 1:

TABLE 1
		‘VALOR’	‘PREMIER’
Characteristic	‘MERIT’	(US PP 20,394)	(US PP 20,309)
1. Color of	Ranges from	Ranges	Ranges
mature fruit	orange	from red to	from red to
	red to red	dark red	dark red
2. Fruit size	Small	Medium	Medium
3. Marketable	503	529	393
yield (gm/plt)
4. Plant size	Ranges	Medium	Medium
	from medium
	to small
5. Stolon	Weak	Ranges	Ranges
anthocyanin		from weak	from weak
intensity		to medium	to medium
6. Stolon	Weak	Strong	Medium
pubescence
7. Color of	Medium green	Ranges	Ranges
upper surface		from medium	from medium
		to dark green	to dark green
8. Interveinal	Ranges	Medium	Medium
leaf blistering	from medium
	to strong
9. Foliage gloss	Medium	Medium	Ranges
			from medium
			to strong
10. Serrations/leaf	20.3	22.7	25.9
11. Petiole length (cm)	14.2	17.4	15.5
12. Petiolule	11.9	17.8	11.8
length (mm)
13. Terminal leaf	Acute	Obtuse	Obtuse
shape of base
14. Fruiting	24.3	29.7	30.8
truss length
at maturity (cm)
15. Fruiting truss	Medium	Ranges from	Strong
pubescence		medium
		to strong

For identification a series of molecular markers have been determined for this new variety.

‘MERIT’ differs from its parents, ‘PS-2880’ and ‘PS-4630’ by the following combination of characteristics as described in Table 2.

TABLE 2
		‘PS-2880’
Characteristic	‘MERIT’	(US PP 15,597)	‘PS-4630’
1. Fruit size	Small	Medium	Large
3. Plant size	Small	Medium to large	Medium to large
4. Insertion of achenes	Level with	Above the	Level with
	surface	surface	surface
5. Type of bearing	Everbearing	Everbearing	June bearing

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE PHOTOGRAPHS

The accompanying color photographs illustrate the overall appearance of typical specimens of the new strawberry variety ‘MERIT’, at various stages of development as true as it is reasonably possible with color reproductions of this type. Color in the photographs may differ slightly from the color value cited in the botanical descriptions which accurately describe the color of ‘MERIT’. The depicted plant and plant parts of the new strawberry variety ‘MERIT’ are approximately 3 to 4 months old. The photographs were taken in Ventura County, California:

FIG. 1 shows typical fruiting field characteristics of ‘MERIT’ taken in the month of October 2009;

FIG. 2 shows a close-up view of a typical leaf structure of ‘MERIT’ taken in the month of October 2009;

FIG. 3 shows typical mature and immature field fruit of ‘MERIT’ taken in the month of October 2009;

FIG. 4 shows a close-up view of mature fruit of ‘MERIT’ taken in the month of November 2009;

FIG. 5 shows typical internal and external mature fruit characteristics of ‘MERIT’ taken in the month of November 2009.

DETAILED BOTANICAL DESCRIPTION

The new variety ‘MERIT’ has not been observed under all possible environmental conditions. The characteristics of the new variety ‘MERIT’ may vary in detail, depending upon variations in environmental factors, including weather (temperature, humidity and light intensity), day length, soil type and location. In addition, the characteristics of any parental variety or comparison variety included in Tables 1-9 of the present invention may vary in detail, depending upon variations in environmental factors, including weather (temperature, humidity and light intensity), day length, soil type and location.

The aforementioned photographs, together with the following description of the new variety ‘MERIT’, unless otherwise noted, are based on observations taken during the 2009 growing season in Ventura County, California. These measurements and ratings were taken from plants of ‘MERIT’ dug from a low-elevation nursery located in San Joaquin County, California during the month of January 2008 and planted approximately 6 months later in Ventura County, California. The approximate age of the observed plants is 3 to 4 months. Yield observations and fruit quality characteristics are averaged from four years of data collected from the 2006 through 2009 growing seasons. Flower measurements and characteristics are from secondary flowers unless otherwise noted. Fruit characteristics and measurements are from secondary fruit unless otherwise noted.

Color terminology where noted follows The Royal Horticultural Society Colour Chart, London (2007).

The following tables 3-9 describe fruit, plant, stolon, foliage, fruiting truss, flower and pest disease characteristics of the new strawberry ‘MERIT’ in comparison to the similar strawberry variety ‘VALOR’ and strawberry variety ‘PREMIER’.

TABLE 3
FRUIT CHARACTERISTICS
		'VALOR'	'PREMIER'
Characteristic	'MERIT'	(US PP 20,394)	(US PP 20,309)
Color of	RHS 34B	RRHS 46A	RHS 46A
mature fruit	Ranges from	Ranges from	Ranges from
	orange red	red to	red to
	to red	dark red	dark red
Color of	RHS 34C	RHS 45A	RHS 45A
internal flesh	Orange red	Ranges from	Ranges from
		medium to	medium to
		dark red	dark red
Fruit length (cm)	3.8	4.0	4.2
Fruit width (cm)	3.3	3.6	3.5
Fruit length/	1.14	1.12	1.22
width ratio	Slightly	Slightly	Slightly
	longer than	longer than	longer than
	broad	broad	broad
Calyx	3.8	4.1	4.6
diameter (cm)
Average fruit	18.1	21.5	21.9
weight (gm)
Achene color,	RHS 160B	RHS 160A	RHS 160B
shaded side	Greyed	Greyed	Greyed
	yellow group	yellow group	yellow group
Achene color,	RHS 184B	RHS 183A	RHS 183A
sun exposed	Greyed	Greyed	Greyed
side	purple group	purple group	purple group
Achenes	324	331	286
per berry
Achene	0.50	0.50	0.60
weight (mg)
Marketable fruit	503	529	393
yield (gm/plt)
Fruit Size	Small	Medium	Medium
Predominant	Conical	Conical	Conical
fruit shape
Difference	Slight	Ranges from	None to
in shapes		slight to	very slight
between primary		moderate
and secondary
fruit
Band without	Absent or	Absent or	Absent or
achenes	very narrow	very narrow	very narrow
Unevenness	Absent or	Weak	Absent or
of fruit surface	very weak		very weak
Evenness of	Even	Even	Ranges from
fruit color			slightly uneven
			to even
Fruit glossiness	Ranges from	Ranges from	Ranges from
	medium to	medium to	medium to
	strong	strong	strong
Insertion	Level with	Ranges from	Level with
of achenes	surface	level with	surface
		to below
		the surface
Insertion	In the	In the	In the
of calyx	basin	basin	basin
Attitude of	Spreading	Spreading	Spreading
the calyx
Size of calyx	Slightly	Slightly	Much
in relation to	larger	larger	larger
fruit diameter
Adherence	Strong	Strong	Strong
of calyx
Firmness	Medium	Strong	Medium
of fruit skin
Firmness	Firm	Firm	Medium
of fruit flesh
Keeping quality	Very good	Very good	Good
Distribution	Marginal	Marginal	Marginal
of red color	and central	and central	and central
of the flesh
Hollow center	Moderate	Absent or	Weak
expression		very weak
Fruit flavor	Ranges from	Good	Good
	good to
	very good
Soluble solids	8.8	7.8	8.3
(% brix)
Time of	Early	Medium	Medium
first flowering
Time of	Early	Medium	Medium
first harvesting
Harvest period	Late	Late	Late
	September to	September to	September to
	mid December	mid December	mid December
Type of	Everbearing	Everbearing	Everbearing
bearing

TABLE 4
PLANT CHARACTERISTICS
		‘VALOR’	‘PREMIER’
Characteristic	‘MERIT’	(US PP 20,394)	(US PP 20,309)
Plant height (cm)	24.1	25.9	25.6
Plant spread (cm)	29.0	31.6	33.5
Plant size	Ranges from medium	Medium	Medium
	to small
Plant habit	Globose	Globose	Globose
Plant density	Medium	Medium	Medium
Plant vigor	Medium	Medium	Medium

TABLE 5
STOLON CHARACTERISTICS
		‘VALOR’	‘PREMIER’
Characteristic	‘MERIT’	(US PP 20,394)	(US PP 20,309)
Stolon color	RHS 145A	RHS 144A	RHS 145A
	Yellow	Yellow	Yellow
	green group	green group	green group
Stolon	RHS 180D	RHS 180A	RHS 181 B
anthocyanin	Greyed	Greyed	Greyed
coloration	red group	red group	red group
Stolon	Weak	Ranges	Ranges
anthocyanin		from weak	from weak
intensity		to medium	to medium
Average stolon	2.4	6.4	8.5
number per plant
from the
fruiting field
Stolon diameter	3.1	3.3	3.6
at bract (mm)
Stolon	Weak	Strong	Medium
pubescence
Attitude of hairs	Upwards	Upwards	Upwards

TABLE 6
FOLIAGE CHARACTERISTICS
		‘VALOR’	‘PREMIER’
Characteristic	‘MERIT’	(US PP 20,394)	(US PP 20,309)
Foliage:
Color of	RHS 137A	RHS N137B	RHS N137B
upper surface	Medium	Medium to	Medium to
	green	dark green	dark green
Color of	RHS 147C	RHS 147C	RHS 147C
underside	Yellow	Yellow	Yellow
	green group	green group	green group
Shape in	Slightly	Slightly	Slightly
cross section	concave	concave
	to flat	to flat	concave
Interveinal	Ranges from	Medium	Medium
blistering	medium
	to strong
Leaf	Medium	Medium	Ranges from
glossiness			medium
			to strong
Number	Three	Three	Three
of leaflets
Terminal
Leaflet:
Length (cm)	8.9	8.6	9.6
Width (cm)	7.6	8.7	8.6
Length/	1.18	0.99	1.11
width ratio	Longer	As long	Longer
	than broad	as broad	than broad
Serrations/leaf	20.3	22.7	25.9
Leaf size	Ranges from	Medium	Medium
	medium
	to small
Shape of base	Acute	Obtuse	Obtuse
Shape of teeth	Obtuse	Obtuse	Obtuse
Petiole:
Petiole Color	RHS 144A	RHS 144A	RHS 144A
	Yellow	Yellow	Yellow
	green group	green group	green group
Petiole	14.2	17.4	15.5
length (cm)
Petiole	3.4	4.2	4.3
diameter (mm)
Petiolule color	RHS 144A	RHS 144A	RHS 144A
	Yellow	Yellow	Yellow
	green group	green group	green group
Petiolule	11.9	17.8	11.8
length (mm)
Petiole	Moderate	Sparce	Sparce
pubescence
Attitude	Strongly	Strongly	Strongly
of hairs	outward	outward	outward
Stipule:
Color	RHS 146A	RHS 146A	RHS 146B
	Yellow	Yellow	Yellow
	green group	green group	green group
Anthocyanin	RHS 63A	RHS 61A	RHS 61A
coloration	Red purple	Red purple	Red purple
	group	group	group
Anthocyanin	Weak	Weak	Medium
intensity
Length (mm)	22.2	21.3	24.8
Width (mm)	8.6	10.4	11.3

TABLE 7
FRUITING TRUSS CHARACTERISTICS
		‘VALOR’	‘PREMIER’
Characteristic	‘MERIT’	(US PP 20,394)	(US PP 20,309)
Anthocyanin	RHS 181D	RHS 181C	RHS 181B
coloration	Greyed	Greyed	Greyed
	red group	red group	red group
Anthocyanin	Absent or	Absent or	Medium
intensity	very weak	very weak
Length at	24.3	29.7	30.8
maturity (cm)
Position	Above the	Level with	Ranges from
relative	foliage	the foliage	level with to
to foliage			beneath
			the foliage
Pubescence	Medium	Ranges from	Strong
		medium
		to strong
Attitude at	Prostrate	Prostrate	Prostrate
first pick

TABLE 8
FLOWER CHARACTERISTICS
		‘VALOR’	‘PREMIER’
Characteristic	‘MERIT’	(US PP 20,394)	(US PP 20,309)
Petal color	RHS NN155C	RHS NN155C	RHS NN155C
	White	White	White
Sepal color	RHS 137A	RHS 137A	RHS 137A
	Green group	Green group	Green group
Corolla	31.0	30.1	35.3
diameter (mm)
Calyx	29.8	31.2	33.9
diameter (mm)
Petal	11.7	11.3	13.4
length (mm)
Petal	12.0	11.1	12.7
width (mm)
Petal length/	0.98	1.02	1.05
width ratio
Petals/flower	6.2	5.7	5.8
Sepal	11.0	10.5	12.3
length (mm)
Sepal	3.2	4.7	5.8
width (mm)
Sepal length/	3.41	2.23	2.11
width ratio
Sepals/flower	11.8	11.4	11.6
Size of calyx	Ranges from	Larger	Larger
relative to	same size
corolla	to smaller
Size of	Smaller	Smaller	Smaller
inner calyx
relative to
outer calyx
Relative	Overlapping	Ranges from	Overlapping
position		touching to
of petals		overlapping

TABLE 9
PEST AND DISEASE REACTIONS
		‘VALOR’	‘PREMIER’
Characteristic	‘MERIT’	(US PP 20,394)	(US PP 20,309)
Two spotted spider mite	Moderately	Moderately	Moderately
	susceptible	susceptible	susceptible
Flower thrips	Moderately	Moderately	Moderately
	susceptible	susceptible	susceptible
Powdery mildew	Moderately	Susceptible	Susceptible
	susceptible
Botrytis fruit rot	Moderately	Moderately	Moderately
	susceptible	susceptible	susceptible
Angular leaf spot	Moderately	Moderately	Susceptible
	resistant	susceptible

Claims

1. A new and distinct variety of Fragaria ananassa named ‘MERIT’, as herein described and illustrated by the characteristics set forth above.