Strawberry plant named ‘NCS 10-156’

Abstract

A new and distinct variety of commercial strawberry plant (Fragaria x ananassa Duchense) named NCS 10-156 substantially as illustrated and described, characterized by its early season of ripening, medium size, excellent flavor, very attractive conical shape with good quality fruit that has soft flesh firmness and soft skin toughness.

Claims

1. A new and distinct variety of Fragaria x ananassa Duch. plant named NCS 10-156, substantially as described and illustrated herein.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) The accompanying photographs show typical specimens of NCS10-156. The photographs were taken in Clayton, N.C.

(2) FIG. 1 shows whole 8-month old plants of NCS 10-156 including leaves, inflorescences and fruit at varying stages of ripeness.

(3) FIG. 2 shows a close up of fruit of NCS 10-156, sliced and whole.

(4) FIG. 3 shows a close-up of fruit of NCS 10-156, sliced and whole.

(5) FIG. 4 compares the weekly marketable yield of strawberry varieties Chandler, NCS 10-156 and Sweet Charlie.

DETAILED BOTANICAL DESCRIPTION

(6) The following is a detailed description of a new distinct strawberry variety known as NCS 10-156. The description is based on observations taken from the 2014-2017 growing seasons in Clayton, N.C. and Salisbury, N.C. The plants are set in the fall and fruiting occurs in the following spring. This description is in accordance with International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV) terminology. Color designations and descriptions and other phenotypical traits may deviate from the stated values depending on location and season as this genotype has not been observed in all environmental conditions. Color terminologies are based on The Royal Horticultural Society Colour Chart, London (R.H.S.) (5.sup.th Edition. 2007). Plant: Average height.20 cm. Average width.15 cm. Canopy density.Moderately dense. Growth habit.Semi erect moderate compact. Number of crowns/plant.3-6. Vigor.Moderate. Leaf: Overall.Pinnately compound with 3 leaflets. Mean leaf length including petiole.283 mm. Wide.151 mm. Terminal leaflet length.78 mm. Terminal leaflet width.60 mm. Petiole length.205 mm. Secondary leaflet length.78 mm. Secondary leaflet width.55 mm. Terminal leaflet: Upper leaf surface color.137A. Lower leaf surface color.138B. Terminal leaflet length.7.7 mm. Terminal leaflet width.7.5 mm. Length to width ratio.1.02. Shape in cross section.Concave. Terminal leaflet serration number.16-20. Terminal leaflet margin profile.Obtuse. Terminal leaflet shape overall.Orbicular. Terminal leaflet shape of base.Cuneate. Terminal leaflet shape of serrations.Pointed. Interveinal blistering.Slight. Pubescence density of lower surface.Sparse. Leaf glossiness.Semi-gloss. Venation pattern.Pinnate. Petiole: Petiole length.17.2 mm. Petiole diameter.3 mm. Pubescence density of petiole.Slight-moderate. Petiole pose of hairs.Erect, perpendicular. Petiole color.144B. Anthocyanin.Absent. Petiolule: Length.Terminal leaflet, 6 mm; lateral leaflet, 6 mm, diameter, 2 mm. Color.144B. Stipule: Stipule length.26.8 mm. Stipule width.7.5 mm. Stipule color.145B. Stipule pubescence.Present. Anthocyanin.Slight. Bract pair or single.Mostly single occasionally paired. Secondary leaflets: Color upper surface.137A. Color lower surface.138B. Secondary leaflet length.7.7 cm. Secondary leaflet width.7.5 cm. Length to width ratio.1.02. Shape in cross section.Concave. Leaflet shape.Orbicular. Leaflet glossiness.Glossy. Secondary leaflet serration number.14-18. Secondary leaflet margin profile.Obtuse. Secondary leaflet shape of base.Cuneate to slightly rounded. Secondary leaflet shape of serrations.Pointed. Interveinal blistering.Moderate. Pubescence density.Lower surface Sparse. Leaf glossiness.Semi-gloss. Venation pattern.Pinnate. Stolons: Number of daughter plants.25-40 depending on environmental conditions. Anthocyanin.Variable, absent to moderate. Thickness.3 mm. Pubescence.Very sparse nearly glabrous. Average length.452 mm. Inflorescence: Time of flowering.Short day flowering habit. Position relative to canopy.Flowers open at or below canopy. Branching of the inflorescence.At or close to crown. Number of flowers/inflorescence.5.3. Relative flower size.Medium. Relative calyx size to corolla.0.78. Inflorescence attitude at harvest.Level to erect. Inflorescence length.18-20 mm. Flower diameter.35 mm primary, 25 mm secondary. Calyx diameter.26 mm. Blossom longevity.1-2 days. Number of stamens.Average of 27. Anther color.13A to 16A. Filament color.149D to 150C. Style color.149D. Stigma color.2C. Petals: Petal length.13.5 mm. Petal width.14.2 mm. Petal size ratio.0.95 Petals/flower.5. Petal color.155D. Corolla diameter (mean diameter of the petals collectively).33.3 mm. Flower shape.Orbicular Number flowers/inflorescence.3-6. Petal spacing.Even to overlapping. Sepals: Sepal number.10.5. Sepal color.137A. Sepal length.11.1 mm. Sepal width.4.2 mm. Calyx: Calyx color.N137A tip, N139 base. Corolla diameter.33.3 mm. Calyx size compared to fruit.> or =. The calyx attachment is usually level with the fruit, and the sepal attitude is outward and some upward orientation. Pedicels: Color.145A. Pubescence.Light. Number of pedicels attached to the truss.3. Diameter.2 mm. Length of pedicel attached to the primary fruit.59 mm long. At peak production, the plant will have multiple crowns. Each crown will produce one or more truss and each truss will have pedicels. Fruit: Fruit fragrance.Highly fragrant. Flavor.Sweet, high soluble solids content (SSC), see Table 4. Fruit skin color.53A. Fruit flesh color.47A. Evenness of color.Outside skin even, inside from 47A in the apex gradually changing to NN 155C in the center near the calyx. Flesh and skin firmness at full ripe stage.Moderately soft (See Table 3). Rain damage.Slight. Fruit size average.14.6-19.9 g (see Table 1 and Table 2). Fruit shape.Conical. Fruit length.36.4 mm. Fruit width.31.3 mm. Fruit length to width ratio.1.16. Fruit skin glossiness.Uniform glossy. Fruit calyx orientation.Most flat, sometimes raised up. Band without achenes.4-8 mm. Center cavity size.0-6 mm. Unevenness of surface.Seeds sometimes raised, so surface can be uneven. Disease resistance.Susceptible to grey mold (Botrytis cinerea) and anthracnose fruit rot (Colletotrichum acutatum). Seeds: Achene color.151A and 53A. Achene color is individually present depending on location on fruit. Achene attachment.At surface to raised. Achene shape.Oval.

(7) The technical (pomological) descriptive data comparing yield of NCS 10-156 to that of Sweet Charlie, Camarosa and Chandler in Salisbury, N.C. and in Clayton, N.C. is presented in Tables 1-2. Weekly marketable yield of Chandler, NCS 10-156 and Sweet Charlie are presented in FIG. 4. Tables 3-4 provide post-harvest storage life attributes comparing NCS 10-038 to Camarosa and Chandler as well as NCS10-038. This data was previously published in part in Perkins-Veazie, P., J. Pattison, G. E. Fernandez and G. Ma. 2016. Fruit Quality and Composition of Two Advanced North Carolina Strawberry Selections. Intl. J. Fruit Science. 16:(Sup 1): 220-227).

(8) TABLE-US-00001 TABLE 1 Piedmont Research Station, Salisbury NC, 2015-16. Total yield, marketable yield, percent marketable yield and average berry weight. Market- Market- Total Total able able Yield Yield Yield Yield Genotype (g/plant) (lbs/A) (g/plant) (lbs/A) NCS 10-038* 931 35749 771 29605 NCS 10-156 697 26757 586 22484 Camarosa 637 24431 550 21107 Chandler 665 25505 505 19389 Sweet Charlie 488 18712 406 15592 Percentage Market- Average Marketable able berry Yield (% Percent of weight Genotype of total) Chandler (g) NCS 10-038* 82.8 153 16.4 NCS 10-156 84.0 116 18.9 Camarosa 86.4 109 21.7 Chandler 76.0 100 16.9 Sweet Charlie 83.3 80 17.3 *NCS 10-038 is co-pending Plant Pat. Application No. 16/602,013

(9) TABLE-US-00002 TABLE 2 Central Crops Research Station, Clayton, NC 2015-16. Total yield, marketable yield, percent marketable yield and average berry weight. Total Total Marketable Marketable Yield Yield Yield Yield Genotype (g/plant) (lbs/A) (g/plant) (lbs/A) NCS 10-038* 785 30131 712 27309 Camarosa 668 25619 607 23290 Chandler 669 25690 539 20698 NCS 10-156 558 21400 485 18603 Sweet Charlie 337 12941 306 11725 Percentage Average Market- Marketable berry able Yield Percent of weight Genotype (% of total) Chandler (g) NCS 10-038* 90.6 132 17.5 Camarosa 90.9 113 18.2 Chandler 80.6 100 19.8 NCS 10-156 86.9 90 14.6 Sweet Charlie 90.6 57 14.2 *NCS 10-038 is co-pending Plant Pat. Application No. 16/602,013

(10) TABLE-US-00003 TABLE 3 Subjective ratings of strawberry fruit held at 4 C for 8 days averaged for 2014 and 2015 seasons.sup.z. Berries Overall Fruit Fruit with appear- Fruit dark- Calyx Calyx firm- mold Selection ance.sup.y shrivel ness brown shrivel ness (%) Camarosa 3.8a 3.9ab 3.7bc 3.8a 3.6a 4.3a 3.1a Chandler 4.0a 4.3a 3.8b 3.9a 3.8a 3.2b 4.6ab NCS 10- 4.0a 4.4a 4.2a 3.4a 3.6a 3.8b 6.1ab 038 NCS 10- 3.3b 3.3b 3.2c 3.0b 3.0a 2.2c 12.3b 156 .sup.zAll fruit quality attributes were given subjective ratings of 1 to 5 where a higher number indicates better fruit quality. Berries with mold was determined by 100% x (no. berries with mold/total no. berries). .sup.yMeans within column with same letter indicate no significant difference using Tukey's HSD, p < 0.05.

(11) TABLE-US-00004 TABLE 4 Fruit composition of fully ripe freshly harvested strawberry selections grown at Piedmont, NC in 2014 and 2015.sup.z. Titrat- Total able antho- acidity cyanin Total (TA) (mg phenolic (% as P3G/ content SSC citric SSC/ 100 (mg Selection (%) pH acid) TA g fwt).sup.y GA/100 g) Day 0 Camarosa 7.1b 3.82a 0.69b 10.6ab 41.27a 155.62a Chandler 6.8b 3.71b 0.69b 10.0ab 48.55a 157.57a NCS 10-038 7.1b 3.67b 0.75a 9.8b 28.87b 142.05b NCS 10-156 7.8a 3.78a 0.72ab 11.0a 33.95ab 152.23a Day 8 Camarosa 7.6b 3.97a 0.64b 12.1a 51.52a 152.16bc Chandler 7.6b 3.87b 0.66b 11.6a 45.39ab 158.50a NCS 10-038 6.9c 3.81b 0.68b 10.2b 29.86c 147.59c NCS 10-156 8.7a 3.87b 0.77a 11.6a 37.04b 153.21b .sup.zEach selection consists of a mean of 3 to 7 samples, representing 3 harvest dates per year. Means within column with same letter indicate no significant difference using Tukey's HSD, p < 0.05. .sup.yP3G and GA are pelargonidin 3-glucoside and gallic acid equivalents, respectively.