GERMPLASM OF STRAWBERRY IN CZECH REPUBLIC

Approximately 100 companies are involved in commercial strawberry growing in the Czech Republic. The acreage of strawberry plantations is around 500-600 ha depending on the year. ‘Honeoye’ and ‘Elsanta’ are the main cultivars. Research and Breeding Institute of Pomology Holovousy Ltd. is the only workplace, where the germplasm of strawberry is maintained. There are 80 cultivars in the collection, which were grown in our climatic conditions or selected as potential genetic resources for breeding. Ten plants in containers are maintained from each cultivar. These genetic resources are placed in small greenhouses (4 cultivars per 1 greenhouse) to avoid losses. The plants are renewed each 2-3 years. Each cultivar has its own drip irrigation. All cultivars were bred or obtained in Europe and USA (in total 14 countries). The most represented countries are The Netherlands (15 cultivars), Great Britain (13 cultivars), Czech Republic (11 cultivars) and USA (9 cultivars). The aim of this work was to evaluate germplasm of strawberry, which is maintained in the Czech Republic. Three economically important fruit characters (fruit firmness, taste, average weight of 1 fruit) were evaluated. Evaluation of fruit characters was carried out in years 2009-2011. Concerning the firmness of the fruit flesh, cultivars ‘ArKing’ (‘Cardinal’ × ARK 5431), ‘Ferrara’ (Md.US.4083 × ‘Holiday’) and ‘Pajaro’ (‘Sequoia’ × 63.7-101) were excelled. ‘Karina’ (IVT6169 (‘Gorella’ × ‘Deutsch Evern’) × ‘Valentine’) and ‘Korona’ (‘Tamella’ × ‘Induka’) had the best taste. ‘Cesena’ (‘Tago’ × Md.US.3816) - 37.3 g, ‘Tago’ (‘Gorella’ × ‘Talisman’) - 32.6 g, ‘Bogota’ (Zb.53.116 × ‘Tago’) - 32.0 g, ‘Darselect’ (‘Parker’ × ‘Elsanta’) - 31.4 g and ‘Tenira’ (‘Redgauntlet’ × ‘Gorella’) - 31.0 g had an average weight of one fruit higher than 30 g. Cultivars ‘Hecker’ (65.65- 601 × 66.96-101) - 8.0 g and ‘Fracunda’ (‘Valentine’ × ‘Sengana’) - 9.2 g had the smallest fruit.