USDA: Two new berries have been developed thanks to U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientists. Berries of all types are wonderful additions to a healthy diet,
providing nutrients, fiber and flavor. Sweet Sunrise
is a new strawberry cultivar from the Corvallis breeding program, which
is led by Agricultural Research Service (ARS) plant geneticist Chad Finn. Sweet Sunrise is a high-yielding cultivar that ripens in June. It
produces large, firm attractive fruit having excellent quality.
According to Finn, Sweet Sunrise was high-yielding in every trial and
location. Yields are comparable to, or higher than, those of other
recent releases such as Charm, Valley Red, and Sweet Bliss or the
industry standards Tillamook, Totem, and Hood.
In all evaluations,
Sweet Sunrise was rated excellent and comparable to Totem for
commercial processors.
Finn also developed Columbia Star (U.S. patent applied for), a
thornless, trailing blackberry cultivar from the same breeding program
as Sweet Sunrise. Columbia Star was released in 2013 in cooperation
with OAES.
The new blackberry is a high-quality, high-yielding,
machine-harvestable blackberry with firm, sweet fruit that when
processed is similar in quality to, or better than, fruit from the
industry standards Marion and Black Diamond. Both of these new berry cultivars will be good additions to the fresh- and processed-fruit markets, according to Finn.
