Breeding report of a new everbearing strawberry cultivar ‘Yongli'

Abstract: ‘Yongli'is a new everbearing strawberry cultivar which is derived from the cross of‘Tochio-tome'and‘06-J-02'at Shenyang Agricultural University in 2007, and about 1 000 hybrid seeds wereobtained. The seeds were sowed in April of 2008. An elite individual plant, named 08-4-2, was selectedin 2009 for excellent quality and everbearing character. After adaptability evaluation and performancetesting in greenhouse and open field over three years from 2010 to 2013, 08-4-2 was finally selected andnamed‘Yongli'in 2014. The plant grows moderately with an average height of 20 cm and crown diameter26.6 cm. The leaflet is round and green with middle leaf area. The length of leaf petiole is 12 cm and thenumber of leaf is from 10 to 14 per plant. It has large bisexual flowers and is observed more than 15 perplant. Peduncles are erect and small thick. The fruit of‘Yongli'is cone-shaped or short cone-shaped,bright red with strong glossiness and excellent aroma. The seeds are yellow green, and flat or slightlybulge on the fruit surface. Fruit flesh is red and pith is small without cavity. The average weight of singleprimary fruit is 20.4 g in spring and 15.2 g in summer and autumn. In spring, it contains soluble solids of9.2%, vitamin C of 0.55 mg?g-1, the total sugar of 7.6%, the total acid of 0.5%, and the fruit firmness is1.38 kg?cm-2. In summer and autumn, it contains soluble solids of 10.4%, vitamin C of 0.58 mg?g-1, the to-tal sugar of 8.6%, the total acid of 0.9%, and the fruit firmness is 0.92 kg?cm-2. Compared with other ever-bearing strawberry cultivars such as‘Portola',‘Ablion'and‘San Andreas', the fruit quality of‘Yongli'is obviously better, but its fruit is relatively soft. It has excellent everbearing character and is similar to‘Portola'. The ability of runner initiation is stronger and one stock plant of‘Yongli'can produce over 40 plantlets. It is resistance to gray mould and soil-borne disease such as anthracnose. Its fruit is middle-sensitive to powdery mildew. The cultivar is suitable for being planted in plastic house in summer and au-tumn and open field of Shenyang and its northern part. At the same time, it is also suitable for growing ingreenhouse for semi-forcing cultivation. For the cultivation of plastic house in summer and autumn, thebeds of 80 cm width ×15 cm height ×equal length to plastic house were made before planting. Three rowswere planted per bed with a row width of 25 cm and a plant space of 25 cm. It was fit to plant 7 000‘Yongli'plantlets per 667 m2. The fruit began to harvest from the late of May to October. For the semi-forcing cultivation in greenhouse, the beds of 40 to 50 cm width 25 to 35 cm height were made in the lateof August, and then the robust and healthy plantlets were better to plant in the early of September. Tworows were planted per bed with a row width of 25 cm and a plant space of 15 to 18 cm. It was fit to plant7 000 to 7 500‘Yongli'plantlets per 667 m². In order to overwinter safely, the plastic film was coveredthe in the middle or late of October, then the straw was mulched covering the film to make the plants enterto dormancy in the early or middle of November. From the beginning of the middle or late of December,the woven straw would be rolled up in the daytime in order to make the plants grow. The plastic film wasremoved in the early of May in the following year. During flowering and fruit-setting stages, the highesttemperature in the daytime was regulated below 25 ℃.