The University of California, Davis’ (UC Davis) Public Strawberry Breeding Programme has released two new varieties, UCD FinnandUCD Mojo.
The two new strawberries are “extreme day neutral” varieties meaning they were bred for summer planting. Specifically, they were developed to replace the Portola variety, the only other strawberry UC Davis had bred for this period.
Steve Knapp, director of the UC Davis Strawberry Breeding Programme, said the cultivars were developed to provide high-quality fruit from late summer through the holidays, while his college Glenn Cole explained the advantages they would have over Portola.
“Finn and Mojo are sweeter than Portola without any drop-off in yield because so much of the fruit is large and marketable throughout the harvest season,” said Cole, breeder and field manager of UC Davis Strawberry Breeding Programme.
The UC Davis Strawberry Breeding Programme has delivered more than 60 new varieties since it began in the 1930’s including seven new varieties in the past year-and-a-half. All of these have delivered improvements whether it be in yield, disease resistance, taste, size or resource use.
