UPDATES ON ITALIAN STRAWBERRY BREEDING PROGRAMS COORDINATED BY CRA-FRF

Strawberry is a popular cash crop in Italy, although total acreage has declined 22% over the last decade to its current 3,500 ha. The country’s southern districts, which account for 60% of acreage, today use winter planting systems, and the Spanish ‘Sabrosa®Candonga’ and Californian ‘Camarosa’ are the dominant cultivars, whereas its northern districts commonly employ traditional summer planting with cold-stored plants, the main Italian-bred cultivars here being ‘Eva’, ‘Alba’, ‘Clery’, ‘Irma’, ‘Roxana’ and ‘Tecla’. The Italian advanced selections VR 2, VR 4 and FC 15 for northern areas and PIR 2, PIR 54 and CE 56 for southern ones are reported and discussed.