RESULTS OF RED RASPBERRY BREEDING IN LATVIA

Raspberries are the third most important berry crop in Latvia by the total area of plantations. Winter-hardiness is the main limiting factor in the growing of this crop. Winter-hardiness is a complex trait consisting of several components. The most important of these are the combination of high cold resistance with the ability to regain hardiness after long thaw periods, especially in the second half of the winter, when deep dormancy of raspberries has ended (it ends in December).
In Latvia the main part of commercial raspberry cultivars are varieties of Russian breeding. Many of these have high cold hardiness, but worse restorative ability after thaws that are common in the Latvian climate.
Besides, the majority of Russian cultivars lack berry quality – they are too soft and have short storage when transported and sold.
The widely grown Western European cultivars ‘Glen Ample’ and ‘Tulameen’, which are characterized by high berry quality, have low winter-hardiness in Latvia.
Because of these reasons, breeding of raspberry cultivars adapted to the local conditions is done at LSIFG since 1980.
In the period of 1984-2008 raspberry cultivars ‘Arta’, ‘Dita’, ‘Ina’, ‘Lina’, ‘Liene’ and ‘Viktorija’ have been selected. By present observations, the most hardy of these cultivars are ‘Liene’ and ‘Lina’, the most productive ‘Lina’ and ‘Ina’, while the largest berry mass and the best quality have cultivars ‘Ina’ and ‘Viktorija’.