Retrospective of Analysis of Cultivar Development in the Northeastern United States During the 20th Century

The early American strawberry varieties were selections of the small fruited species F. virginiana, known as the Scarlet strawberry, and at least 30 varieties were available by 1820.   The introduction of the much larger fruited F. x ananassa varieties (Pineapple strawberry) from Europe quickly became the dominant strawberry grown.  During the early stages of cultivar development, the improvement of size was a priority, but increasingly important were characters such as disease resistance and fruit characteristics (i.e. flavor, firmness, color) all of which remain a priority today.  By the early 1900s, breeders were focused on developing cultivars for a particular region due to the specific conditions of the area; this regionality of cultivar development continues today. In the northeastern United States, strawberries are produced in a perennial system, and therefore, disease resistance has been a primary focus of breeders who have successfully developed several cultivars with resistance to many of the common diseases in the region.  As a result, breeding for high yield has been more challenging compared to breeders developing cultivars for an annual system which is primarily focused on fruit size, firmness and yield.  The objectives of this study were to evaluate some of the top cultivars that have been released in the northeastern United States. during the past century for yield, fruit quality, and photosynthetic performance.