North Carolina State University, Cornell University, University of Arkansas, University of British Columbia/BC Berry Cultivar Development Inc., and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) in Corvallis OR, have joined in a collaborative effort with Pairwise, and Plant Sciences Inc to uncover the genetic potential in the genus Rubus. The collaborators include public berry breeders, geneticists, molecular biologists, germplasm curators, bioinformaticists and data scientists.
The research at NCSU will have two main components. The first experiment is an environmental effect study. This is a “traditional” breeding study that will encompass the phenotyping of a set of traits on the same 5 cultivars in 6 geographically distinct locations over two years. The range of locations include the primary public Rubus breeding programs in North America. The cultivars being evaluated include raspberries, blackberries, and a black raspberry. The aim of this study is to provide information on the heredity of economically significant traits and the effects of genotype, environment and their interactions. A second study will be a SNP validation study of the 5 genotypes in the above experiment as well as 25 other Rubus species.