USPP23291P2 - Strawberry plant named ‘PS-3.108’ - Google Patents

Abstract

This invention relates to a new and distinct variety of strawberry plant named ‘PS-3.108’. This new strawberry plant named ‘PS-3.108’ is primarily adapted to the growing conditions of the central coast of California, and is primarily characterized by its dark red to red fruit color, large to very large fruit size, medium plant vigor, conical fruit shape, firm fruit flesh, and early fruit ripening.

Description

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

Variety denomination: ‘PS-3.108’.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a new and distinct strawberry variety named ‘PS-3.108’. This new variety is a result of a controlled cross made in 2003 in an ongoing breeding program between strawberry variety designated ‘PS-1269’ (patented, U.S. Plant Pat. No. 10,686) and strawberry variety designated ‘PS-4634’ (patented, U.S. Plant Pat. No. 17,487). 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 Monterey County, Calif. in the summer of 2005. After its selection, the new variety was asexually propagated by stolons in both San Joaquin County, Calif. and Siskiyou County, Calif. The new variety was extensively tested over the next several years in fruiting fields in Monterey County, Calif. 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

‘PS-3.108’ 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 April through November production months.

The following traits have been repeatedly observed and are determined to be unique characteristics of ‘PS-3.108’, which in combination distinguish this strawberry plant as a new and distinct variety:

• • 1. Dark red to red fruit color;
  • 2. Large to very large fruit size;
  • 3. Medium plant vigor;
  • 4. Conical fruit shape;
  • 5. Firm fruit flesh; and
  • 6. Early fruit ripening

The strawberry variety that is believed to be most closely related to the new variety ‘PS-3.108’ is ‘PS-4634’ (patented, U.S. Plant Pat. No. 17,487). In side-by-side comparisons to the similar strawberry variety ‘PS-4634’, ‘PS-3.108’ differs by the following combination of characteristics as described in Table 1.

TABLE 1
COMPARISON TO THE STANDARD VARIETY

		‘PS-4634’
Characteristic	‘PS-3.108’	(U.S. Plant Pat. No. 17,487)
Fruit color	Ranges from red	Ranges from orange red to
	to dark red	red
Average marketable	1,969 grams/plant	1,689 grams/plant
yield
Difference in shape	Ranges from none	Moderate
between primary and	to very slight
secondary fruit
Size of calyx in	Slightly larger	Same size
relationship to fruit
diameter
Firmness of flesh	Firm	Medium
Expression of hollow	Weak	Strong
center
Plant size	Medium	Large
Foliage color	Ranges from light	Medium green
	to medium yellow
	green
Foliage shape in cross	Ranges from lightly	Ranges from lightly
section	to strongly concave	concave to flat

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

‘PS-3.108’ differs from its parents, ‘PS-1269’ and ‘PS-4634’ by the following combination of characteristics as described in Table 2.

TABLE 2
COMPARISON TO THE PARENT VARIETIES

		‘PS-1269’	‘PS-4634’
		(U.S. Plant	(U.S. Plant
Characteristic	‘PS-3.108’	Pat. No. 10,686)	Pat. No. 17,487)
Fruit color	Ranges from red	Red	Ranges from
	to dark red		orange red to red
Average	1,969 grams/plant	1,443 grams/plant	1,689 grams/
marketable yield			plant
Difference in	Ranges from none	Ranges from	Moderate
shape between	to very slight	moderate to
primary and		marked
secondary fruit
Fruit gloss	Medium	Ranges from	Strong
		weak to medium

BRIEF DESCRIPTIONS OF THE PHOTOGRAPHS

The accompanying color photographs illustrate the overall appearance of typical specimens of the new strawberry variety ‘PS-3.108’, 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 ‘PS-3.108’. The depicted plant and plant parts of the new strawberry variety ‘PS-3.108’ are between eight and nine months old. The photographs were taken in Monterey County, Calif.:

FIG. 1 shows typical fruiting field characteristics of ‘PS-3.108’, taken in the month of July 2011;

FIG. 2 shows a close-up view of the typical leaf structure of ‘PS-3.108’, taken in the month of July 2011;

FIG. 3 shows typical mature and immature field fruit of ‘PS-3.108’, taken in the month of July 2011; and

FIG. 4 shows typical internal and external mature fruit characteristics of ‘PS-3.108’, taken in the month of August 2011.

DETAILED BOTANICAL DESCRIPTION

The new variety ‘PS-3.108’ has not been observed under all possible environmental conditions. The characteristics of the new variety ‘PS-3.108’ 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 ‘PS-3.108’, unless otherwise noted, are based on observations taken during the 2011 growing season in Monterey County, Calif. These measurements and ratings were taken from plants of ‘PS-3.108’ dug from a high-elevation nursery located in Siskiyou County, Calif. during mid October 2010 and planted between two and three weeks later in Monterey County, Calif. The approximate age of the observed plants is between eight and nine months. Yield observations and fruit quality characteristics are averaged from three years of data collected from the 2008 through 2010 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 through 9 describe fruit, plant, stolon, foliage, fruiting truss, flower and pest disease characteristics of the new strawberry ‘PS-3.108’ in comparison to the similar strawberry variety ‘PS-4634’.

TABLE 3
FRUIT CHARACTERISTICS

		‘PS-4634’
		(U.S. Plant
Characteristic	‘PS-3.108’	Pat. No. 17,487)
Color of mature fruit	RHS 46A	RHS 45B
	Ranges from red to	Ranges from orange red
	dark red	to red
Color of internal flesh	RHS 44B	RHS 44C
	Medium red	Ranges from light red to
		medium red
Fruit length (cm)	4.5	4.3
Fruit width (cm)	3.8	3.9
Fruit length/width ratio	1.17	1.11
	Slightly longer than	Slightly longer than
	broad	broad
Calyx diameter (cm)	4.2	4.0
Average fruit weight	29.6	27.7
(gm)
Achene color, shaded	RHS 162B	RHS 162C
side	Greyed yellow	Greyed yellow group
	group
Achene color, sun-	RHS 184B	RHS 184C
exposed side	Greyed purple group	Greyed purple group
Achenes per berry	438	437
Achene weight (mg)	0.52	0.40
Marketable fruit yield	1,969	1,689
(gm/plant)
Fruit size	Ranges from large to	Ranges from large to
	very large	very large
Predominant fruit shape	Conical	Conical
Difference in shapes	None or very slight	Moderate
between primary and
secondary fruit
Band without achenes	Absent or very	Narrow
	narrow
Unevenness of fruit	Absent or very weak	Weak
surface
Evenness of fruit color	Even	Ranges from slightly
		uneven to even
Fruit glossiness	Medium	Strong
Insertion of achenes	Level with surface	Level with surface
Insertion of calyx	In basin	Ranges from in basin to
		level
Attitude of calyx	Spreading	Ranges from spreading to
		reflexed
Size of calyx in relation	Slightly larger	Same size
to fruit diameter
Adherence of calyx	Strong	Strong
Firmness of fruit skin	Strong	Strong
Firmness of fruit flesh	Firm	Medium
Keeping quality	Very good	Very good
Distribution of red color	Marginal and central	Marginal and central
of the flesh
Hollow center expression	Weak	Strong
Fruit flavor	Good	Very good
Soluble solids (% brix)	7.4	8.3
Time of first flowering	Early	Early
Time of first harvesting	Early	Early
Harvest period	Late March to	Late March to November
	November
Type of bearing	June bearing	June bearing

TABLE 4
PLANT CHARACTERISTICS

			‘PS-4634’
	Characteristic	‘PS-3.108’	(U.S. Plant Pat. No. 17,487)
	Plant height (cm)	25.3	28.8
	Plant spread (cm)	33.9	39.1
	Plant size	Medium	Large
	Plant habit	Globose	Globose
	Plant density	Medium	Medium
	Plant vigor	Medium	Strong

TABLE 5
STOLON CHARACTERISTICS

		‘PS-4634’
Characteristic	‘PS-3.108’	(U.S. Plant Pat. No. 17,487)
Stolon color	RHS 146D	RHS 146D
	Yellow green group	Yellow green group
Stolon anthocyanin	RHS 182A	RHS 182D
coloration	Greyed red group	Greyed red group
Stolon anthocyanin	Weak	Ranges from weak to medium
intensity
Stolon pubescence	Medium	Ranges from weak to medium
Attitude of hairs	Upward	Upward
Average stolon	Ranges from	Ranges from medium to many
quantity	medium to many
Stolon diameter	3.7	3.4
at bract (mm)

TABLE 6
FOLIAGE CHARACTERISTICS

		‘PS-4634’
Characteristic	‘PS-3.108’	(U.S. Plant Pat. No. 17,487)
Foliage:
Color of upper	RHS 146A	RHS 137A
surface	Ranges from light	Medium green
	yellow green to
	medium yellow green
Color of underside	RHS 147C	RHS 147C
	Yellow green group	Yellow green group
Number of leaflets	3	3
Shape in cross	Strongly to slightly	Slightly concave to flat
section	concave
Interveinal blistering	Ranges from medium	Ranges from medium to
	to strong	strong
Leaf glossiness	Ranges from medium	Ranges from medium to
	to strong	strong
Terminal Leaflet:
Length (cm)	8.5	9.5
Width (cm)	7.7	6.9
Leaf size	Ranges from large to	Ranges from large to
	medium	medium
Length/width ratio	1.11	1.36
	Longer than broad	Much longer than broad
Shape of base	Obtuse	Acute
Shape of teeth	Obtuse	Obtuse
Serrations per leaf	18.7	22.1
Petiole:
Petiole color	RHS 145A	RHS 145A
	Yellow green group	Yellow green group
Petiole length (cm)	15.6	20.2
Petiole diameter	4.0	4.4
(mm)
Petiolule color	RHS 145A	RHS 145A
	Yellow green group	Yellow green group
Petiolule length	9.7	7.8
(mm)
Attitude of hairs	Strongly outward	Strongly outward
Petiole pubescence	Moderate	Ranges from moderate to
		sparse
Stipule:
Color	RHS 146B	RHS 146B
	Yellow green group	Yellow green group
Anthocyanin	RHS 63A	RHS 58A
coloration	Red purple group	Red purple group
Anthocyanin	Strong	Strong
intensity
Length (mm)	18.1	18.7
Width (mm)	9.9	8.3

TABLE 7
FRUITING TRUSS CHARACTERISTICS

		‘PS-4634’
Characteristic	‘PS-3.108’	(U.S. Plant Pat. No. 17,487)
Anthocyanin coloration	RHS 181C	RHS 182D
	Greyed red group	Greyed red group
Anthocyanin intensity	Absent or very weak	Absent or very weak
Length at maturity (cm)	29.5	35.3
Position relative to	Level with	Level with
foliage
Pubescence	Medium	Ranges from weak to
		medium
Attitude at first pick	Prostrate	Prostrate

TABLE 8
FLOWER CHARACTERISTICS

		‘PS-4634’
Characteristic	‘PS-3.108’	(U.S. Plant Pat. No. 17,487)
Petal color	RHS NN 155C	RHS NN 155C
	White group	White group
Sepal color	RHS 137C	RHS 137A
	Green group	Green group
Corolla diameter (mm)	26.3	29.9
Calyx diameter (mm)	36.5	35.7
Petal length (mm)	11.3	12.3
Petal width (mm)	12.0	12.5
Petal length/width ratio	0.94	0.98
Petals/flower	6.8	5.6
Sepal length (mm)	13.9	12.8
Sepal width (mm)	5.8	5.2
Sepal length/width ratio	2.40	2.46
Sepals/flower	13.7	11.3
Size of calyx relative to	Larger	Larger
corolla
Size of inner calyx relative	Ranges from	Ranges from same to larger
to outer calyx	smaller to same
Relative position of petals	Overlapping	Overlapping

TABLE 9
PEST AND DISEASE REACTIONS

		‘PS-4634’
Characteristic	‘PS-3.108’	(U.S. Plant Pat. No. 17,487)
Powdery mildew	Moderate	Moderately resistant
Angular leaf spot	Susceptible	Susceptible
Botrytis fruit rot	Moderately susceptible	Moderately susceptible
Two-spotted	Moderately susceptible	Moderately susceptible
spider mite
Lygus bug	Susceptible	Susceptible
Flower thrips	Moderately resistant	Moderately susceptible

Claims (1)

1. A new and distinct strawberry plant named ‘PS-3.108’, as herein described and illustrated by the characteristics set forth above.

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