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Canada, New Zealand create new raspberry variety

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Canada, New Zealand create new raspberry variety
A horticultural research team
from New Zealand and Canada has introduced a new red raspberry cultivar.

March 12, 2009, Motueka, New Zealand – A horticultural research team from New Zealand and Canada has introduced a new red raspberry cultivar.

Moutere is a new floricane fruiting red raspberry (Rubus idaeus L.) created in a planned breeding program at the Horticulture and Food Research Institute of New Zealand Limited (recently renamed the New Zealand Institute of Plant and Food Research Limited.

The name Moutere, a Maori word meaning “island,” was chosen because the cultivar was selected near the rural area and townships (Upper Moutere and Lower Moutere) adjacent to Motueka, New Zealand.

The new cultivar was featured in the American Society of Horticultural Science’s journal HortScience . The research team included Mark Joseph Stephens of Plant and Food Research, Chaim Kempler of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s Pacific Agri-Food Research Centre, and Harvey K. Hall of Shekinah Berries Ltd., Motueka, New Zealand.

Although no large-scale trials of Moutere have been conducted, it performed well in B.C. and in the Nelson region of New Zealand in small-sized research plots over several years. According to the study authors, Moutere should be well-adapted to U.S. hardiness zones 8 to 10.

The new variety is distinguished by high yields of large, uniform size, bright red berries. The fruit is suitable for consumption as early season high-grade fresh berries and is very attractive when packaged for the fresh market.

The scientists note that Moutere will produce high yields of large attractive fruit in fertile soils with good management and sufficient winter chill. The plant adapts well to a wide range of environments and is a useful breeding parent for resistance to Raspberry Bushy Dwarf Virus (RBDV) and the North American raspberry aphid.

The new red raspberry cultivar is the subject of a grant of a U.S. plant patent. For licensee information on Moutere, contact the Plant Variety Management Team at wcashmore@hortresearch.co.nz.

The complete study and abstract are available on the ASHS HortScience electronic journal web site at http://hortsci.ashspublications.org/cgi/content/full/43/6/1915.

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