Towards the goal of examining G x E interactions, the plants were evaluated for bloom date, ripening date, picking scar, fruit firmness, crop load, botrytis damage, and plant growth here and in Michigan. The ANOVA is presented where location x cross (LxC) indicates GxE (Table 2).

There were location effects for the following traits: plant survival (92% survived in Oregon, 56% in Michigan), bloom date, (Michigan plants bloomed 3 weeks earlier than in Oregon), ripening interval (62 days in Michigan, 82 days in Oregon), plant height and width (Oregon plants were much bigger), yield (Oregon plants were estimated to have a larger yield), and fruit firmness (Michigan fruit was slightly firmer). These results suggest that we can grow plants much faster than Michigan and an Oregon breeding program should be able to turn over breeding cycles more quickly than Michigan can. At a minimum, we can cooperate with Michigan and get their selections early since we can determine whether they are commercially viable much more quickly than if the evaluation is done solely in Michigan.

While there were differences among crosses only for plant survival, ripening interval, height to width ration, and fruit color in the overall analysis, in Oregon there were differences among crosses for all traits. When plants are given an optimal environment, they are more capable of fully expressing their potential allowing more population differences to become apparent. This suggests that there may be a benefit to growing populations in Oregon.

The primary purpose of this project was to look at the genotype x environment interaction. For any trait if a genotype x environment interaction is absent, it means that the populations that perform the best for this trait in one location are the same ones that perform best in another location. For breeders that means that if the same populations are the best, it doesn’t matter where you select them, you are still going to identify the best populations. There were no genotype x environment interactions for estimated yield, fruit color, fruit firmness, fruit size and ripening interval If a genotype x environmental interaction is present, it means that something beyond just the genotype or environment is affecting a population’s performance. There was a significant genotype x environment interaction for plant survival, bloom date, ripening date, plant size and fruit scar. As an example of what this might indicate, the genotype x environment interaction for plant size probably means that while all plants were small in Michigan, in Oregon’s moderate climate they were able to grow their full potential and some of those that were smaller in Michigan may have been very large in Oregon. Overall, these genotype x environment interactions or lack of interactions suggest that genotypes selected as being excellent for most fruit quality traits and yield in Michigan are going to also have excellent fruit quality traits and yield in Oregon, and tha t selecting for ripening season in Michigan may not identify those that will ripen in a similar season in Oregon.