Boysenberries

Science programme: Berryfruit & hops breeding

Our Boysenberry breeding programme, started in 1980, aims to develop spineless cultivars that have:

• Pest and disease resistance
• Similar flavour, colour and processing characteristics to Boysenberry
• Ease of machine harvest
• High fruit quality.

Considerable obstacles have been overcome in the development of new types of Boysenberry, including:

• Low fertility in progenies - was less than 1 percent of seedlings fruitful, now often over 50 percent
• High susceptibility to downy mildew - severe symptoms are now rare
• Poor fruit set - progenies now include individual clones with over 95 percent fertility compared with just 60-65 percent in regular Boysenberry
• Low fruit number per lateral - was 5-7, now up to 12
• Spininess - all progenies now segregated for spinelessness before planting
• Soft fruit - was too soft for fresh marketing, now some clones are very firm
• Low retention of Boysenberry flavour and aroma in progenies - now some clones are recognised as Boysenberry in trials more than regular Boysenberry
• Poor colour - many Boysenberry derivatives have been either too red or too black. Now many selections have appropriate colour
• Difficulty of machine harvest - Boysenberry itself is moderately difficult to harvest whereas new selections can be harvested easily.

Cultivars are being developed to supply fruit for the fresh market or for processing. Recent releases include 'Marahau', 'Tasman', 'Mapua' and 'Riwaka Choice'.

This programme is supported by the New Zealand Foundation for Research, Science and Technology, Boysenberries New Zealand Ltd. and Berryfruit Export New Zealand Ltd.