Trials of Advanced Raspberry selections to evaluate suitability for IQF processing and to promote adoption
Overview
A new cultivar, ‘Cascade Premier’, and an advanced selection, ‘WSU 2188’, were compared with industry standard cultivars under commercial production and processing conditions. The cultivars were evaluated for Individually Quick Frozen (IQF) processing quality, yield, pest tolerance, disease susceptibility and winter hardiness. ‘Cascade Premier’ was compared with adjacent, similarly managed ‘WakeHaven®’. ‘Cascade Premier’ yields were limited at one location by cane botrytis, which reduced the numbers of fruiting laterals. ‘Cascade Premier’ generally produced fewer, but larger fruits than WakeHaven®. Under warm conditions favoring rapid ripening, ‘Cascade Premier’ produced IQF quality fruit when harvest intervals were short enough (less than 3 days), but became too soft for IQF processing at longer harvest intervals.