New cultivars and selections from the Kentville Strawberry Breeding Programme

The strawberry breeding programme of the Kentville Research Centre (now known as the Atlantic Food and Horticulture Research Centre) has been active since 1949. The current emphasis iri the programme is on improving fruit quality and size while maintaining a high level of disease resistance. Resistance to red stele root rot (Phytophthora fragariae Hick.) has been a priority. Cultivar Mira is the latest introduction and K90-1, K90-12, and K92-17 are promising strawberry selections. 'Mira' ('Scott' x 'Honeoye'), tested as K84-5, produces bright? orange-red, conical berries which ripen two days later than 'Kent'. 'Mira' is as productive as 'Kent' and has similar average berry size. Plants of 'Mira' are vigorous, with healthy foliage and resistance to red stele root rot. K90-1 ('Veestar' x 'Cavendish') is an early season strawberry, ripening with 'Veestar'. Compared with 'Veestar', K90-1 has demonstrated improved fruit size and productivity. The flavour of K90-1 has been rated highly. K90-12 ('Cavendish' x 'Honeoye') produces large, uniformly attractive fruit in the season of 'Cavendish'. It does not show the uneven ripening characteristics that 'Cavendish' sometimes shows. K92-17 (K87-5 x K86-19) produces exceptionally large fruit in the late season. It is a possible replacement for 'Blomidon'. K90-1, K90-12, and K92-17 have resistance to several races of P. fragariae.