Strawberry plant named ‘Alicia’
The present invention provides new and distinct strawberry plant designated as ‘Alicia’ (a.k.a. ‘109180’).
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Latin name of the genus and species: Fragaria x ananassa.
Varietal denomination: ‘Alicia’ (a.k.a. ‘109180’).
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONThe present invention relates to new and distinct strawberry plant designated as ‘Alicia’ (a.k.a. ‘109180’).
‘Alicia’ (a.k.a. ‘109180’) is the result of a controlled-cross made on May 29, 2013 between a female parent cultivar designated 105218 (a.k.a., ‘Zaralina’) and a male parent cultivar designated 102850 (a.k.a., ‘Victor’) made by the Inventor and was first fruited in Watsonville, Calif. growing fields. Following selection and during testing, the plant was originally designated ‘109180’ and subsequently named ‘Alicia’. ‘Alicia’ is a day-neutral plant.
This new strawberry plant was asexually reproduced via runners (stolons) by the inventor at Watsonville, Calif. Asexual propagules from the original source have been tested in Watsonville growing fields and to a limited extent, grower fields in high elevation. The properties of this plant were found to be transmissible by such asexual reproduction. The plant is stable and reproduces true to type in successive generations of asexual reproduction.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONThis invention relates to new and distinctive strawberry plant designated as ‘Alicia’ (a.k.a. ‘109180’). The plant is primarily adapted to the climate and growing conditions of the central coast of California. This region provides the necessary temperatures required for it to produce a strong vigorous plant and to remain in fruit production from March through October. The nearby Pacific Ocean provides the needed humidity and moderate day temperatures and evening chilling to maintain fruit quality for the production months.
‘Alicia’ has not been observed under all possible environmental conditions, and the phenotype may vary significantly with variations in environment, however with no variance in genotype. The following observations, measurements, and comparisons describe this plant as grown under normal conditions in Watsonville, Calif. unless otherwise noted.
The following traits and photographs in combination distinguish strawberry plant ‘Alicia’ from known strawberry plants. Plants for the botanical measurements in the present application were grown as annuals. Any color references are made to The Royal Horticultural Society Colour Chart, 1995 Edition, except where general terms of ordinary dictionary significance are used. The plants were 8-month old when the observation was made.
‘Alicia’ is distinguished from its paternal parent by its larger fruit size, greater ease of harvest, and its presentation of shorter and thicker petioles. ‘Alicia’ is distinguished from its maternal parent by its larger fruit size, greater yield volume, and longer flower stems. ‘Alicia’ is similar to the variety ‘Monterey’ (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 19,767), but possesses several distinguishing traits from Monterey. ‘Alicia’ is distinguished from ‘Monterey’ by its greater ease of harvest, smaller plant size, and higher berry yield per plant. ‘Alicia’ presents shorter and thicker petioles than ‘Monterey’. ‘Alicia’ has a lower cull rate than ‘Monterey’ and both of its parents. ‘Albion’ (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 16,228) is a commercial strawberry variety that is similar to, but distinguished from ‘Alicia’. The fruit yield of ‘Alicia’ exceeds the yield of ‘Albion’ in multiple annual testing cycles performed at the breeders test location in Watsonville Calif.
In addition, ‘Alicia’ scored better than it's parents for percent marketable fruit of the sum of all fruit produced in Watsonville Calif. test plots. Compared to its parents, ‘Alicia’ was observed to withstand adverse post harvest ambient temperatures over several days, demonstrating a putative longer shelf life as well as less susceptibility to the discoloration effect associated with bruising that occurs during the hand harvesting procedure. The fruit of each of the parents of the strawberry plant variety named ‘Alicia’ was observed to be lighter in redness coloration ‘Alicia’. One parent of ‘Alicia’, a strawberry plant variety named ‘Victor’ (a.k.a., 102850), was determined to be a short day variety, whereas ‘Alicia’ has been determined to be a day neutral type when grown in the breeder's Watsonville Calif. test farm. The color of the foliage of ‘Victor’ is a lighter green than it's offspring ‘Alicia’. ‘Victor’ produces more fruit over the fruiting season than it's offspring ‘Alicia’, however ‘Alicia’ produces fruit during a longer period of time than it's short-day parent ‘Victor’. The other parent of ‘Alicia’, a strawberry plant variety named ‘Zaralina’ (a.k.a., 105218) produces much less fruit than ‘Alicia’, and the plant structure of ‘Zaralina’ is smaller and more compact than ‘Alicia’. The strawberry plant variety named ‘Alicia’ produces more stolon in the fruiting field than either of it's parents when grown in the breeder's Watsonville location.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGSThe accompanying color photographs depict various characteristics of the cultivars as nearly true as possible to make color reproductions.
Claims
1. A new and distinct cultivar of strawberry plant named ‘Alicia’, substantially as shown and described herein.
- https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-strawberry-fragaria-alice-growing-in-a-clay-terracotta-pot-80317457.html; Jun. 29, 2012; 1 page
- GTITM UPOVROM Citation For ‘Alice’ as per QZ PBR 20000098; Apr. 14, 2000; 1 page.
Type: Grant
Filed: May 4, 2018
Date of Patent: Dec 31, 2019
Patent Publication Number: 20180324992
Assignee: Sweet Darling Sales, Inc. (Aptos, CA)
Inventor: John Larse (Watsonville, CA)
Primary Examiner: Kent L Bell
Application Number: 15/932,838
International Classification: A01H 5/08 (20180101); A01H 6/74 (20180101);
