SCRI's role in supporting the soft fruit industry
The soft fruit industry in Scotland
Our breeding programmes
Improving the nutritional status of fruit
Pests and diseases
Provision of nuclear stock planting material
Extended season production
The soft fruit industry in Scotland
Soft fruit production in Scotland represents a small but valuable sector
within the agricultural/horticultural landscape, occupying 1650 ha supplying
high-value fresh and processing markets throughout the UK, worth £52m annually
for raspberries and £8m rising to an added value of over £200m for the blackcurrant
processing crop. The raspberry industry in Scotland is an excellent example of
a niche market with considerable value to local economies in rural areas.
The viability of this and the other soft fruit industries will depend on
several factors, including improved means for pest and disease control that
are in line with increasing demand for reduced pesticide use in agriculture,
reduced pesticide residues at harvest and new cultivars that can enable
growers to respond quickly to a changing market place.
The establishment of nutritionally-enhanced end-products (new cultivars,
processed products) will identify Scottish fruit as being at the upper
end of the quality market, thereby creating a highly visible national
product 'footprint' that would have beneficial knock-on effects with
regard to economic growth, wealth creation and increased employment.
Our work benefits the entire Scottish soft fruit supply chain - growers,
marketing organisations, retailers and consumers. Furthermore, SCRI-bred
varieties have a strong international presence and for example it has been
estimated that SCRI-bred blackcurrants account for more than 50% of
the global crop.
Our breeding programmes
The unique plant resources held at SCRI, coupled with the incorporation
of recent advances in genomics and genetics, will be used to develop
improved germplasm into the relevant breeding programmes, with particular
emphasis on increased nutritional value and higher levels of durable
resistance to damaging pests and pathogens. The genetic control and
heritability of key traits, and production of linked molecular markers,
will be used to develop more efficient breeding strategies. Desirable
alleles for commercially important traits will be identified and brought
into enhanced germplasm; in
Rubus, comparative mapping with other members
of the Rosaceae will be used to accelerate this process.
At present most of our breeding effort is directed to red raspberry and
blackcurrant, although we have smaller programmes for blackberry, gooseberry
and strawberry. However, in future we will investigate a wider range of
soft fruit crops to identify those with increasing potential for production
in Scotland, such as blueberries and redcurrants.
Our breeding programmes, sponsored by end-users and SEERAD, provide the
platform for delivery of germplasm and associated knowledge enabling the
industry to realise its potential and increase its competitiveness within
the UK and beyond. Future, changes in environmental, cultural and agronomic
practices within the industry will impact strongly on both the nature of the
germplasm required for the future and also the likely pest and disease problems.
Improving the nutritional status of fruit
The nutritional importance of soft fruit in the Scottish diet aligns with
key policy issues within SEERAD to improve the health of the Scottish population.
The proposed work aims to screen available germplasm of
Rubus and
Ribes for its
nutritional value and identify the most important bioactive compounds.
From this, clear breeding objectives can be developed to provide the raw materials
for both fresh market crops and innovative fruit-based products. Additionally,
the likely introduction of EU legislation limiting the fortification of food
and drinks with vitamins will require increases in naturally-occurring levels
within fruit cultivars, but will also provide new opportunities for development
and utilisation of high-vitamin species.
Pests and diseases
Pests and diseases remain a threat to production and cause serious economic
losses to growers. There are a number of reasons for continuing vigilance with
pests and pathogens including: imminent changes in EU-wide pesticide harmonisation
plans will mean the withdrawal of many pesticides, and control of many pests and
diseases will become more difficult in the short- to medium-term; the risk of
hitherto unrecognised pests and diseases in Scotland increasing in importance
due to protected cropping systems and/or climate change; changes of varieties
which can result in a change in susceptibility to pests and diseases.
Thus, in addition to the long-term development of new germplasm with durable
resistance genes, particularly against aphids, viruses and
Phytophthora spp.
there is a need to identify appropriate integrated pest and disease management
(IPDM) strategies for the short- to medium-term. For example, we are developing
methods for non-pesticidal control of raspberry beetle and raspberry cane midge
using semiochemical approaches and attractant-enhanced traps.
Provision of nuclear stock planting material
The provision of disease-free nuclear stock of soft fruit germplasm represents a
statutory requirement, because propagation of high-health planting material is
crucial to the sustainability of commercial production throughout the UK. SCRI
is the sole UK establishment with the expertise and facilities to produce pathogen
tested (PT) foundation stocks of
Rubus,
Ribes and
Fragaria, and we are an
international centre for the supply of such PT germplasm for scientific and
commercial use worldwide.
Our pathogen detection protocols use the best tests available, many of which
were first devised at SCRI, to screen for a variety of fungal, bacterial and
viral diseases and nematode pests of
Rubus,
Ribes and
Fragaria. We will continue
to devise improvements in the methodology for maintaining nuclear stock, particularly
the increased use of PCR-based pathogen detection protocols, which will raise the
overall health status of the UK fruit industry, thereby assisting its sustainability.
Extended season production
The changing climate is already of major importance to soft fruit growing, due
to (a) the succession of mild winters leading to poor bud break in some fruit
species, and (b) the increase in protected and extended season production in
Rubus.
Our future work aims to identify germplasm adapted to a changing climate, identify
the genetic control points of relevant adaptations, and develop germplasm with
potential utility in extension of the main cropping season. Additionally, the
potential effects of climate change and cropping practices on the pest and disease
spectrum affecting future crops of Rubus will be examined.
