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Parentage
Autumn Treasure comes from a cross between two EM
selections, EM6304/36 x EM6330/96 made at East Malling Research. The
original seedling (EM6597/46) was selected by Mrs Vicky Knight in
1999. Season
Autumn Treasure is a mid-season variety, the 50%
pick dates between 2001 and 2005 at EMR ranging from 26 August - 8
September, compared to 16 – 26 August for Autumn Bliss.
Plant Characteristics
The canes of Autumn Treasure are spine-free and
upright. The fruit is produced on fairly short fruiting laterals in
the top half of the canes; it is easily plugged and well presented
to the pickers. Fruiting Characteristics
The berries are long conical in shape, with a
good, bright colour and have a good-fair flavour. The average berry
weight recorded over the whole season under tunnels in 2004 and 2005
was 3.5g and 3.3g, respectively. The shelf life was fairly good and
in totally unsprayed plots there were very few post-harvest fruit
rots. Pest & Disease Resistance
Autumn Treasure is resistant to strains 1-4 of the
large raspberry aphid, Amphorophora idaei and has shown no symptoms
of aphid-borne viruses to date. It was first planted in the field at
East Malling in 1996 and to date it has consistently indexed
negative for raspberry bushy dwarf virus, despite being exposed to
the virus in the breeding plots. The results of tests indicate that
Autumn Treasure is highly resistant to Phytophthora root rot. The
variety has not been recorded as being infected with Verticillium
wilt in the field. Potential Uses
Autumn Treasure appears to have few pest and
disease problems, which is a major advantage for a new primocane
fruiting raspberry. Given its robust nature Autumn Treasure could be
a useful variety for organic or low input production systems, where
Autumn Bliss has been the standard.
Accreditations
The breeding of this variety was jointly funded by the
Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra),
MEIOSIS Ltd and the East Malling Trust for Horticultural Research.
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