Four new raspberry cultivars from the Chilean Breeding Program with high productive potential

The production of raspberries in Chile is of economic and social importance, since Chile is one of the main exporting countries of frozen raspberries worldwide. For many years, the predominant cultivar was ‘Heritage’, whose rusticity allowed it to adapt well to local growing conditions. However, this cultivar presents low yields and has small fruit. In 2009, a public-private raspberry breeding program began between the Catholic University of Chile and the Fruit Technological Consortium, with the aim of providing the industry with varietal alternatives. The first three cultivars were released in 2014: ‘Santa Teresa’, ‘Santa Clara’, and ‘Santa Catalina’. These exceed ‘Heritage’ in production and fruit size, and their high degree of primocane-fruiting allowed the cultivation areas to be expanded to warmer areas. After the first three cultivars were obtained, we continued developing both selection systems and molecular markers for the identification of genotypes resistant to biotic and abiotic stress. This work made it possible to obtain another four new cultivars:‘Santa Eduvina’, ‘Santa Rosa’, ‘Santa Guillermina’ and ‘Santa Isabel’. More than 25,000 seedlings of directed crosses were evaluated in the experimental field of Santo Domingo (33°38’S), a town located in the coastal zone of south-central Chile. The four new cultivars are even more productive compared to their predecessors, their potential yield is estimated as more than 30 t ha^‑1, large fruit size (8 g fruit^‑1 on average) and high primocane-fruiting. ‘Santa Isabel’ is characterized by having a yellow fruit, more firm compared to other cultivars with this type of fruit. Of this group, L‘Santa Eduvina’ is the genotype with the highest production, fruit size, and tolerance to root rot and water stress. These new cultivars are expected to continue improving raspberry production in Chile, giving growers more alternatives according to their needs.