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      • HARVEST
      • Electronic Theses and Dissertations
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      DIVERSITY OF ADAPTATION, AGRONOMIC POTENTIAL AND FRUIT QUALITY OF LONICERA CAERULEA L.

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      GERBRANDT-DISSERTATION-2017.pdf (4.326Mb)
      Date
      2017-05-03
      Author
      Gerbrandt, Eric Martin 1985-
      ORCID
      0000-0002-7110-0979
      Type
      Thesis
      Degree Level
      Doctoral
      Metadata
      Show full item record
      Abstract
      Blue honeysuckle (Lonicera caerulea L.) is a novel perennial fruit crop with northern climatic adaptation. Its extreme winter hardiness, early-season fruiting, high antioxidant content and unique flavour profiles have brought it attention as a niche-crop. Breeding for temperate regions that are suited to large-scale horticultural production is relatively recent. Barriers to large-scale commercial production include a low chilling requirement, resulting in early bud break, winter damage and poor pollination in temperate climates; modest yields, irregular fruit shapes and agronomic traits that limit harvestability and marketability; and a low sugar to acid ratio with questionable claims of potential human health benefits due to widely varying reports of antioxidant activity. With the long-term objective of expanding the commercial potential of the crop, germplasm evaluation in a major fruit production region, the Fraser Valley, British Columbia, Canada, assessed phenological adaptation to a temperate climate, fruit morphological traits associated with agronomic potential and fruit biochemical characteristics related to fruit quality and nutritional content. Direct comparison of phenology and biochemistry to three globally important commercial crops, highbush blueberry, red raspberry and June-bearing strawberry, were conducted over two years with biological replication across multiples sites. Genetic diversity was characterized between three foundation germplasm groups, and the potential to make genetic progress was assessed in three improved groups. Physiological and genetic complexity was elucidated for economically important phenotypic responses to the target environment through comparison of improved germplasm with their parental foundation genotypes. This work demonstrates that there is sufficient variation in phenology to permit crop adaptation to a temperate climate, which will make it possible to broaden the range of the crop into major fruit production regions. It shows that diversity in fruit morphological features can be used to breed for large-scale commercial agronomic potential. It characterizes fruit biochemical diversity, signifying commercially marketable fruit quality paired with high nutritional content related to potential human health benefits. This fundamental information on crop genetic resources and the genetic control of important traits will inform breeding strategies that will transform blue honeysuckle from a niche to commercial crop.
      Degree
      Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
      Department
      Plant Sciences
      Program
      Plant Science
      Supervisor
      Chibbar, Ravindra; Bors, Robert
      Committee
      Tanino, Karen; Tar'an, Bunyamin; Wilen, Ron; Bai, Yuguang
      Copyright Date
      April 2017
      URI
      http://hdl.handle.net/10388/7841
      Subject
      haskap
      honeyberry
      genetic resources
      novel crop
      niche crop
      temperate climate
      adaptation
      phenology
      Fraser Valley
      British Columbia
      morphology
      fruit yield
      fruit size
      fruit shape
      commercial agronomic potential
      fruit biochemistry
      total phenolics
      antioxidant
      nutritional content
      superfruit
      fruit quality
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      • Graduate Theses and Dissertations

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