Patent Grant
PP18111
Botanical designation: Fragaria×ananassa Duch.
Variety denomination: ‘Saint-Jean d'Orléans’.
The present invention relates to a new and distinct June bearing strawberry cultivar designated as ‘Saint-Jean d'Orléans’. This cultivar belongs to the genus Fragarias (×ananassa Duch.), whose fruit are juicy, edible and usually red, and is cultivated for culinary purposes.
The new cultivar, tested as FIO9623-43, is the progeny of a cross made by Shahrokh Khanizadeh ‘L'Acadie’1 and ‘Joliette’ (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 10,460). ‘L'Acadie’ is a June bearing strawberry cultivar (Fragaria×ananassa Duch.) bred for Eastern Central Canada and more specifically for Quebec growing conditions. ‘L'Acadie’ is noted for large, firm fruits, moderate resistance to leaf diseases, partial resistance to red stele (Phytophthora fragariae Hickman), and keeping quality of several days after picking or maturity in the field. ‘Joliette’ has high yields of large, moderately firm fruits and is resistant to leaf spot (Mycosphaerella fragariae Tul.) and to six North American eastern (NAE) races of red stele (Phytophthora fragariae Hickman).
The cross took place in 1993 in St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Québec. The ‘Saint-Jean d'Orléans’ strawberry was asexually propagated by runners in L'Acadie, Québec and extensively tested at the same location, where it has been tested since 1997. Selection criteria included shelf life, yield, fruit size and color, and disease resistance. It was further tested in semi-commercial sites in Saint Laurent, Île d'Orléans, Québec, Canada and in Kent, UK. ‘Saint-Jean d'Orléans’ is now an established and stable cultivar.
‘Saint-Jean d'Orléans’ is recommended for Eastern Central Canada, especially in areas where the climate is similar to that in the strawberry production areas of Quebec, such as l'Île d'Orléans. Typically, strawberry production in Quebec occurs in areas with winter temperatures down to −30° C. and warm and humid summers with unpredictable mixture of sun and rain (drought some seasons, constant rain other seasons). The high yield of medium sized, firm, light-red glossy fruits (FIG. 2), resistance to leaf diseases, long shelf life and high levels of given antioxidants essentially characterize ‘Saint-Jean d'Orléans’, as compared to the well-known variety ‘Kent’ for example. The fruits of ‘Saint-Jean d'Orléans’ are ideal for pick your own, fresh market and shipping.
The accompanying color photographs show typical specimens of the new variety at various stages of development as nearly true as it is possible to make in color reproductions.
‘Saint-Jean d'Orléans’ is a June bearing strawberry cultivar (Fragaria×ananassa Duch.) with early flowering date and harvest maturity. It is a progeny (FIO9623-43) resulting from a cross between two recent releases, ‘L'Acadie’ and ‘Joliette’. ‘Saint-Jean d'Orléans’ is vigorous, produces high yields of medium, firm, light-red to red colored fruits and performs a longer storage life than the standard variety ‘Kent’, used by many growers. It shows resistance to leaf diseases and levels of antioxidants that are higher than those of ‘Kent’, which makes it ideal for growers who need to store the fruits for several days or ship them to other provinces for marketing. Color reference are made to The Royal Horticulture Society Colour Chart (R.H.S.), except where general terms of dictionary significance are used.
The selection was named after the village of Saint-Jean d'Orléans, which is located on south-eastern side of l'Île d'Orléans, Quebec. In this area, the principal economy comes from agriculture, with a major emphasis on vegetable and strawberry production. This village is known as a capital of strawberry production in Quebec and is recognized for a high quality fruit production.
Plants of ‘Saint-Jean d'Orléans’ are vigorous, have a flat growing habit, and produce 4-5 inflorescences per crown. They can tolerate winter temperatures below −30° C. with a 10 cm straw mulch cover.
‘Saint-Jean d'Orléans’ fruits, fruit production and fruit quality characteristics.
zData taken from a 1-meter long representative portion of a 2-meter matted row (width 50 cm).
yData were transformed to arcsin prior to analysis of variance (SAS institute, 1988)2.
xNumber of days at room temperature (20° C.) for which the fruits were more than 95% marketable.
wEM = Early-Midseason.
aTEAC: Trolox Equivalent Antioxidant Capacity expressed as μmol Trolox equivalent mg−1 dry weight
bFRAP: Ferric-Reducing Antioxidant expressed as μM FRAP
cTotal phenols expressed as ppm gallic acid equivalent.
‘Saint-Jean d'Orléans’ differs from its parents (‘Joliette’ and ‘L'Acadie’) in terms of fruit shape, calyx and total yield. As stated earlier, the ‘Saint-Jean d'Orléans’ fruit is globose-conic with slightly reflexed sepals, whereas the ‘Joliette’ fruit changes from globose to short-wedge shape during the harvest. ‘Joliette’ skin is reddish and its sepals are not reflexed but cover the fruit. ‘L'Acadie’ fruit is long conic with a white small neck under the calyx, whereas ‘Saint-Jean d'Orléans’ is short conic. The total yield of ‘L'Acadie’ (7696.3 kg/ha) is much lower than that of ‘Saint-Jean d'Orléans’.
‘Saint-Jean d'Orléans’ produces perfect flowers, and attractive and medium size, light red to red, shiny fruits. The flesh is light to medium red almost throughout and very firm. Fresh fruits have a long shelf life and can maintain quality and appearance for up to 4-5 days at room temperature, making it superior to ‘Kent’ for shipping. ‘Saint-Jean d'Orléans’ produces a higher yield than ‘Kent’. ‘Saint-Jean d'Orléans’ is also firmer than ‘Kent’, with similar flavor but lighter skin color.
‘Saint-Jean d'Orléans’ is an early mid-season cultivar (Table 1). Fifty percent of the primary fruit ripen by June 27 which is similar to ‘Kent’ at our substation in L'Acadie and the production peaks were reached on the same day as ‘Kent’.
Chemical analysis of the fruits using HPLC3 revealed that ‘Saint-Jean d'Orléans’ was higher in hydroxycinnamic acids (7.1 ppm p-coumaric acid equivalent), benzoic acids (14 ppm gallic acid equivalent) and flavonols (7.2 ppm quercetin-3-galactoside equivalent). The total phenolic content measured according to Slinkard and Singleton4 was 107.8 ppm gallic acid equivalent; while total anthocyanins was 60.6 ppm cyanidins-3-galactoside equivalent, and ellagic acid was 2.3 ppm. All concentrations except the total anthocyanins and ellagic acid were higher than ‘Kent’ cultivar (4 ppm, 10.7 ppm, 4.2 ppm, 106 ppm, 103.8 ppm,3.9 ppm, respectively). However, the total antioxidant capacity (TEAC and FRAP) of different extracts measured as described by Gao et al.5 and Tsao et al.6 showed that ‘Saint-Jean d'Orléans’ was not significantly different from that recorded by ‘Kent’ (Table 2).
It seems that good storageability, firmness and low susceptibility to diseases of ‘Saint-Jean d'Orléans’ might be due only to the content of some phenolic components rather than to total phenolics. The same can be said about the antioxidant activity. According to Wang et al.7 and Mayr et al.8, phenolics were the main compounds involved in the effective defence of plant tissues against field and postharvest infection or injuries and were significantly more active individually than in combination. It has been shown that benzoic acids have antibacterial, antifungal and antioxidant properties to prevent food spoilage and to enhance quality and shelf life9,10. Lindhard Pedersen11 found that resistance to the diseases of five black currant cultivars was correlated with their high levels of hydroxycinnamic acid derivatives. Moreover, these acids can react with organic molecules such as amino acids to and synthesize toxic secondary metabolites that become highly toxic to the pathogen12.
‘Saint-Jean d'Orléans’ demonstrates a higher degree of resistance to leaf diseases as compared to ‘Kent’. Its susceptibility to leaf scorch (Diplocarpon earlina Ell. & Ev.) and leaf spot (Mycosphaerella fragariae (Tul.) Lindau) was ranked as moderate to low in trials conducted since 1997.
‘Saint-Jean d'Orléans’ plants perform very well in heavy or sandy soils in a matted row system. It is also adapted to the waiting bed system using plastic mulch.
Tests and trials for ‘Saint-Jean d'Orléans’ were conducted in matted rows at an experimental farm in l'Acadie, Québec since 1997. A completely randomized design for four replicates (4 plots) was used to evaluate the selections. Each experimental unit was a 4-meter long plot, 50 cm wide. A representative 2 m section of the plot was used for data collection. The remainder was used as guard row.
REFERENCES
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20060059592 P1 | Mar 2006 | US |
