Strawberry plant named ‘PS-5096’

Abstract

This invention relates to a new and distinct variety of strawberry plant named ‘PS-5096’. This new strawberry plant named ‘PS-5096’ is primarily adapted to the growing conditions of the central coast of California, and is characterized by medium to small sized fruit which are orange-red to red in color; medium to small calyx diameter; conical, glossy fruit with the calyx which tends to be slightly reflexed; medium green foliage, which is slightly concave to slightly convex in shape with medium interveinal blistering and gloss; and position of fruiting truss tends to be more level with to above the plant with weak pubescence.

Description

Latin name of the genus and species of the plant claimed: Fragaria ananassa.

Variety denomination: ‘PS-5096’.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a new and distinct strawberry variety designated as ‘PS-5096’. This new variety is a result of a controlled cross made by the inventors Stephen M. Ackerman, Steven D. Nelson, and Michael D. Nelson, in 1997 between strawberry variety ‘PS-592’ (patented, U.S. Plant Pat. No. 9,903) and strawberry variety designated ‘PS-1150’ (patented, U.S. Plant Pat. No. 10,780). It is unknown as to which parent variety is the seed parent and which parent variety is the pollen parent. The variety is botanically known as Fragaria ananassa.

The seedling resulting from the aforementioned cross was asexually propagated by stolons in a nursery located in Siskiyou County, California, and was subsequently selected by the inventors from a controlled breeding plot in Salinas, Calif., in 1999. After its selection, the new variety was further asexually propagated by stolons in both Siskiyou County, California and San Joaquin County, California. The new variety was extensively tested over the next several years in fruiting fields of Salinas, Calif. This propagation has demonstrated that the combination of traits disclosed herein as characterizing the new variety are fixed and remain true to type through successive generations of asexual reproduction.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

‘PS-5096’ is primarily adapted to the climate and growing conditions of the central coast of California. This region provides the necessary winter temperatures required for it to produce a strong vigorous plant and to remain in fruit production from April through November. The nearby Pacific Ocean provides the needed humidity and moderate temperatures to maintain fruit quality during the spring and summer production months.

The following traits have been repeatedly observed and are determined to be unique characteristics of ‘PS-5096’, which in combination distinguish this strawberry plant as a new and distinct variety:

• • 1. Medium to small sized fruit;
  • 2. Orange-red to red fruit color;
  • 3. Medium to small calyx diameter;
  • 4. Conical, glossy fruit with the calyx which tends to be slightly reflexed;
  • 5. Medium green foliage; slightly concave to slightly convex in shape with medium interveinal blistering and gloss; and
  • 6. Position of fruiting truss tends to be more level with to above the plant with weak pubescence.

The strawberry varieties that are believed to be most closely related to the new strawberry variety ‘PS-5096’ are the parental cultivars, strawberry variety ‘PS-592’ (patented, U.S. Plant Pat. No. 9,903) and strawberry variety ‘PS-1150’ (patented, U.S. Plant Pat. No. 10,780).

In side-by-side comparisons to the similar strawberry varieties ‘PS-592’ and ‘PS-1150’, the new strawberry variety ‘PS-5096’ differs by the following combination of characteristics as described in Table 1:

TABLE 1
		‘PS-592’	‘PS-1150’
		(U.S. Plant Pat.	(U.S. Plant Pat.
Characteristic	‘PS-5096’	No. 9,903)	No. 10,780)
1.	Average berry	19.3	23.1	17.6
	weight (gm)
2.	Achenes per berry	254	304	293
3.	Distribution of	Only marginal	Marginal &	Marginal &
	red color of the		central	central
	internal flesh
4.	Number of	5.5	5.0	5.0
	crowns per Plant
5.	Plant Size	Medium to	Large	Medium
		large
6.	Stolon	Absent or	Medium	Medium to
	anthocyanin	very weak		strong
	intensity
7.	Stolon	Weak to	Medium	Medium to
	pubescence	medium		strong
8.	Foliage Color	Medium green	Medium green	Medium green
	(upper surface)
9.	Foliage	Medium	Medium to	Weak to
	interveinal		strong	medium
	blistering
10.	Foliage gloss	Medium	Strong	Weak
11.	Fruiting truss	Level with to	Level with to	Above
	position relative	above	beneath
	to foliage
12.	Fruiting truss	Weak	Medium	Medium
	pubescence

For identification a series of AFLP molecular markers have been determined for this new variety.

BRIEF DESCRIPTIONS OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying color photographs illustrate the overall appearance of typical specimens of the new strawberry variety ‘PS-5096’, at various stages of development as true as it is reasonably possible with color reproductions of this type. Color in the photographs may differ slightly from the color value cited in the botanical description which accurately describe the color of ‘PS-5096’. The depicted plant and plant parts of the new strawberry variety ‘PS-5096’ were taken in Salinas, Calif., and are approximately 8 to 9 months old.

FIG. 1 shows typical fruiting field characteristics taken in the month of June, 2006.

FIG. 2 shows a close-up view of typical leaf structure taken in the month of June, 2006.

FIG. 3 shows typical mature and immature field fruit taken in the month of June, 2006.

FIG. 4 shows a close-up view of fruit taken in the month of July, 2006.

DETAILED BOTANICAL DESCRIPTION

‘PS-5096’ has not been observed under all possible environmental conditions. The characteristics of the new variety may vary in detail, depending upon variations in environmental factors, including weather (temperature, humidity and light intensity), day length, soil type and location.

The aforementioned photographs, together with the following description of the new variety ‘PS-5096’, unless otherwise noted, is based on observations taken during the 2006 growing season in Salinas, Calif. These measurements and ratings were taken from plants of ‘PS-5096’ dug from a high-elevation nursery located in Siskiyou County, California during the middle of October 2005 and planted approximately 3 weeks later in Salinas, Calif. The approximate age of the observed plants is 7 to 10 months. Yield observations and fruit quality characteristics are averaged from four years of data collected from the 2003 through 2006 growing seasons. Flower measurements and characteristics are from secondary flowers unless otherwise noted. Fruit characteristics and measurements are from secondary fruit unless otherwise noted.

Color terminology where noted follows the Munsell Book of Colors, Munsell Color, Baltimore, Md. (1976).

The following Tables 2-8 describe fruit, plant, stolon, foliage, fruiting truss, flower and pest/disease characteristics of the new strawberry ‘PS-5096’ in comparison to the similar strawberry varieties ‘PS-592’ and ‘PS-1150’.

TABLE 2
FRUIT CHARACTERISTICS
		‘PS-592’	‘PS-1150’
		(U.S. Plant Pat.	(U.S. Plant Pat.
Characteristic	‘PS-5096’	No. 9,903)	No. 10,780)
Color of mature fruit	7.5R 3/12-4/12	7.5R 3/12-4/12	7.5R 4/10-3/8
	Orange red to	Orange red to	Red
	red	red
Color of internal flesh	7.5R 4/10-4/12	7.5R 5/10-4/10	7.5R 4/10-4/12
	Medium red	Light red	Medium red
Length (cm)	4.39	4.83	4.20
Width (cm)	3.68	4.26	3.69
Ratio length/width	1.19	1.13	1.14
	Slightly longer	Slightly longer	Slightly longer
	than broad	than broad	than broad
Calyx diameter (cm)	4.0	5.0	4.2
Average weight (gm)	19.3	23.1	17.6
Achene color	5Y 6/8-7.5R	5Y 6/8-7.5R	5Y6/8-7.5R 3/8
	3/8	3/8
Achenes per berry	254	304	293
Achene weight (mg)	0.59	0.61	0.56
Marketable yield	1,219	1,392	1,010
(gm/plt)
Size	Medium to	Medium to	Small
	small	large
Predominant shape	Conical	Conical	Conical
Difference in shapes	None or very	Moderate	Slight
between primary and	slight
secondary fruit
Band without achenes	Absent or very	Absent or very	Absent or very
	narrow	narrow	narrow
Unevenness of surface	Absent or very	Weak	Absent or very
	weak
Evenness of color	Even	Slightly uneven	Even
		to even
Glossiness	Strong	Medium to	Strong
		strong
Insertion of achenes	Level with	Level with	Level with
	surface	surface	surface
Insertion of calyx	In the basin	Level to above	In the basin
	to level	fruit	to level
Attitude of the calyx	Spreading to	Spreading to	Collapsing to
	reflexed	reflexed	reflexed
Size of calyx in	Slightly larger	Slightly larger	Slightly larger
relation to
fruit diameter
Adherence of calyx	Strong	Strong	Strong
Firmness of skin	Strong	Medium	Strong
Firmness of flesh	Firm	Medium	Medium to
			firm
Keeping quality:	Excellent	Moderate	Excellent
Distribution of red	Only marginal	Marginal and	Marginal and
color of the flesh		central	central
Hollow center	Moderate	Moderate to	Moderate to
expression		strong	strong
Flavor	Good	Very good	Fair
Soluble solids	8.3	8.0	7.4
(% Brix)
Time of first flowering	Medium	Early	Late
Flowering period	Early March	Late February	Mid March
		to early March
Time of first	Medium	Early	Late
harvesting
Harvest period	Early April to	Late March to	Mid April to
	early December	early December	early December
Type of bearing	Partially	Partially	Partially
	remontant	remontant	remontant

TABLE 3
PLANT CHARACTERISTICS
		‘PS-592’	‘PS-1150’
		(U.S. Plant Pat.	(U.S. Plant Pat.
Characteristic	‘PS-5096’	No. 9,903)	No. 10,780)
Height of plant (cm)	29.7	31.0	30.0
Spread of plant (cm)	31.7	35.1	28.8
Crowns/plant	5.5	5.0	5.0
Size	Large to medium	Large	Medium
Habit	Globose	Globose	Globose
Density	Medium	Open to	Medium
		medium
Vigor	Medium to strong	Strong	Medium

TABLE 4
STOLON CHARACTERISTICS
		‘PS-592’	‘PS-1150’
		(U.S. Plant Pat.	(U.S. Plant Pat.
Characteristic	‘PS-5096’	No. 9,903)	No. 10,780)
Average stolon	Few	Few to medium	Few
number per plant from
the fruiting field
Anthocyanin	7.5R 6/6-6/4	7.5R 5/6-5/4	7.5R 4/6-5/6
coloration
Anthocyanin intensity	Absent or very	Medium	Medium to
	weak		strong
Diameter at bract	4.0	4.4	4.2
(mm)	Thin to	Thick	Thin to
	medium		medium
Pubescence	Weak to	Medium	Medium to
	medium		strong

TABLE 5
FOLIAGE CHARACTERISTICS
		‘PS-592’	‘PS-1150’
		(U.S. Plant Pat.	(U.S. Plant Pat.
Characteristic	‘PS-5096’	No. 9,903)	No. 10,780)
Foliage:
Color of upper surface	7.5GY 4/4-3/4	7.5GY 4/4-3/4	7.5GY 4/4-3/4
	Medium green	Medium green	Medium green
Color of under side	5GY 5/4-6/4	5GY 5/4-6/4	5GY 5/4-6/4
	Light to	Light to	Light to
	medium grey	medium grey	medium grey
	green	green	green
Shape in cross section	Slightly	Slightly	Slightly
	concave to	concave	concave to
	slightly convex		slightly convex
Interveinal blistering	Medium	Medium to	Weak to
		strong	medium
Glossiness	Medium	Strong	Weak
Number of leaflets	3	3	3 to 4
Terminal Leaflet:
Length (cm)	9.2	9.5	7.2
Width (cm)	6.6	8.0	6.4
Length/width ratio	1.39	1.19	1.13
Serrations/leaf	20.7	20.7	19.3
Size	Much longer	Much longer	Longer than
	than broad	than broad	broad
Shape of base	Acute	Acute	Obtuse
Shape of teeth	Obtuse	Obtuse	Obtuse
Petiole:
Length (cm)	20.8	21.1	19.0
Diameter (mm)	3.6	4.7	3.1
Petiolule length (mm)	13.0	15.7	9.3
Pubescence	Moderate to	Moderate to	Moderate to
	sparse	sparse	sparse
Attitude of hairs	Slightly	Strongly	Strongly
	outward	outward	outward
Size bract leaflets	Small	Small to	Small
		medium
Stipules:
Length (mm)	15.4	20.8	14.5
Width (mm)	8.3	8.5	8.4
Anthocyanin	Medium	Medium	Absent or very
coloration			weak
Color	Light to	Light to	Light to
	medium green	medium green	medium green

TABLE 6
FRUITING TRUSS CHARACTERISTICS
		‘PS-592’	‘PS-1150’
		(U.S. Plant Pat.	(U.S. Plant Pat.
Characteristic	‘PS-5096’	No. 9,903)	No. 10,780)
Length at maturity	35.5	37.3	38.1
(cm)
Position relative to	Level with to	Beneath to	Above
foliage	above	level with
Pubescence	Weak	Medium	Medium
Anthocyanin intensity	Light	Light	Moderate
Attitude at first pick	Prostrate to	Prostrate to	Prostrate to
	erect	erect	erect

TABLE 7
FLOWER CHARACTERISTICS
		‘PS-592’	‘PS-1150’
		(U.S. Plant Pat.	(U.S. Plant Pat.
Characteristic	‘PS-5096’	No. 9,903)	No. 10,780)
Petal color	N9.5/90.0% R	N9.5/90.0% R	N9.5/90.0% R
	to	to	to
	N9.25/84.2% R	N9.25/84.2% R	N9.25/84.2% R
	White	White	White
Corolla diameter (mm)	28.0	30.6	30.5
Calyx diameter (mm)	32.0	38.8	34.0
Petal length (mm)	11.0	12.1	12.5
Petal width (mm)	10.1	11.5	10.8
Petal length/width	1.09	1.05	1.15
ratio
Petals/flower	6.0	6.0	6.2
Sepal length (mm)	12.8	15.7	13.1
Sepal width (mm)	4.8	6.2	5.4
Sepal length/width	2.69	2.54	2.42
ratio
Sepals/flower	12.1	11.9	12.4
Size of calyx relative	Larger	Larger	Larger
to corolla
Size of inner calyx	Same	Smaller to	Smaller to
relative to outer calyx		same	same
Relative position of	Overlapping	Overlapping	Overlapping
petals

TABLE 8
PEST AND DISEASE REACTIONS
		‘PS-592’	‘PS-1150’
		(U.S. Plant Pat.	(U.S. Plant Pat.
Characteristic	‘PS-5096’	No. 9,903)	No. 10,780)
Two spotted spider mite	Moderately	Moderately	Moderately
	susceptible	susceptible	susceptible
Lygus bug	Susceptible	Susceptible	Susceptible
Flower thrips	Moderately	Moderately	Moderately
	susceptible	susceptible	susceptible
Powdery mildew	Moderately	Moderately	Moderately
	susceptible	susceptible	susceptible
Botrytis fruit rot	Moderately	Moderately	Moderately
	susceptible	susceptible	susceptible
Angular leaf spot	Moderately	Moderately	Moderately
	susceptible	susceptible	susceptible
Virus complex	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown

Claims

1. A new and distinct strawberry plant named ‘PS-5096’, as herein described and illustrated by the characteristics set forth above.