Current status and prospects of raspberry breeding

Abstract

Raspberries are among the most popular berries on the market; therefore, interest in this crop is constantly growing. Raspberries are cultivated in more than 50 countries around the world, and this number is increasing. The steady expansion of raspberry cultivation and yields is due to the scientific support of the industry with new cultivation technologies and varieties. The present study was aimed at revealing difficulties and problems in raspberry breeding and identifying current tendencies and development trends. The paper provides a brief overview of raspberry production in the world, as well as an analysis of active breeding programs in Russia and abroad. The features of the breeding tasks are considered depending on the regions of cultivation. The main problems, methods used, source materials and breeding achievements are presented. It is revealed that the overall purpose of breeding programs is to obtain productive varieties with high adaptation to abiotic and biotic stressors, suitable for various cultivation technologies and having excellent fruit quality. It was found that despite the successes achieved in raspberry breeding, at present there is still lack of varieties with high adaptation to the environment and very early or late-ripening varieties, allowing to extend the period of consumption of fresh berries, as well as lack of high-tech industrial varieties suitable for contemporary cultivation technologies, and varieties with required commodity and consumer properties. The prospects of raspberry breeding for the coming years are considered. It is shown that in order to achieve the strategic objectives in breeding, it is necessary to enrich the cultivated gene pool of raspberry with new inclusions of wild species of Rubus. This requires the cooperation and coordination of all breeding programs for the expansion and exchange of genetic resources. In order to accelerate the breeding process, it is necessary to actively use a large set of biotechnological methods tested and well-proven on berry crops. Wider use of molecular-genetic methods is essential to significantly increase the speed and accuracy of breeding.