USPP29967P2 - Strawberry plant named ‘Malibu’ - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention provides a new and distinct strawberry plant designated as ‘Malibu’ (a.k.a. ‘109221’).

Description

Latin name of the genus and species: Fragaria x ananassa.

Varietal denomination: ‘Malibu’ (a.k.a. ‘109221’).

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a new and distinct strawberry plant designated as ‘Malibu’ (a.k.a. ‘109221’). ‘Malibu’ is a short-day strawberry plant.

‘Malibu’ (a.k.a. ‘109221’) is the result of a controlled-cross between a female parent cultivar designated 105429 (strawberry plant named ‘Dani’, U.S. Plant Pat. No. 25,533) and a male parent cultivar designated 105218 (strawberry plant named ‘Zarina’, U.S. Plant Pat. No. 23,936) made by the Inventor and was first fruited in Watsonville, Calif. growing fields. Following selection and during testing, the plant was originally designated ‘109221’ and subsequently named ‘Malibu’.

This new strawberry plant was asexually reproduced via runners (stolons) by the inventor at Watsonville, Calif. Asexual propagules from the original source have been tested in Watsonville growing fields and to a limited extent, grower fields in high elevation. The properties of this new plant were found to be transmissible by such asexual reproduction. This plant is stable and reproduce true to type in successive generations of asexual reproduction.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to a new and distinctive strawberry plant designated as ‘Malibu’. This strawberry plant is primarily adapted to the climate and growing conditions of the central coast of California. This region provides the necessary temperatures required for it to produce a strong vigorous plant and to remain in fruit production from March through October. The nearby Pacific Ocean provides the needed humidity and moderate day temperatures and evening chilling to maintain fruit quality for the production months.

The following traits and photographs in combination distinguish strawberry plant ‘Malibu’ from known strawberry varieties. In addition, this new strawberry plant was confirmed to be a unique strawberry germplasm when tested against the California Seed & Plant Lab, Inc. (Elverta, Calif.) database using Short Sequence Repeats (SSRs). Plants for the botanical measurements in the present application were grown as annuals. Any color references are made to The Royal Horticultural Society Colour Chart, 1995 Edition, except where general terms of ordinary dictionary significance are used. The fruit produced by each new cultivar is attractive and of excellent quality.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying color photographs depict various characteristics of the cultivars as nearly true as possible to make color reproductions.

FIG. 1 shows fruits of ‘Malibu’.

FIG. 2 shows sliced fruits of ‘Malibu’.

FIG. 3 shows ‘Malibu’ plants.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

‘Malibu’ (a.k.a. ‘109221’)

This invention relates to a new and distinctive short-day type strawberry cultivar designated as ‘Malibu’. It is primarily adapted to the climate and growing conditions of the central coast of California. This region provides the necessary temperatures required for it to produce a strong vigorous plant and to remain in fruit production from March through October. The nearby Pacific Ocean provides the needed humidity and moderate day temperatures and evening chilling to maintain fruit quality for the production months.

The following traits in combination distinguish strawberry variety ‘Malibu’ from the known strawberry varieties. Plants for the botanical measurements in the present application were grown as annuals. In the following description, color references are made to The Royal Horticultural Society Colour Chart, 1995 Edition, except where general terms of ordinary dictionary significance are used.

The detailed botanical description in Table 1 was observed when the plants were 33 weeks after planting. The plants observed were grown in a farm field with an outdoor yield trial plot (without cover) on a polyethylene-film-covered-raised-bed. A grower standard 1.25 mil thickness of polyethylene film was used to cover raised bed. All plants were spaced 14 inches apart. The field having a very sandy soil was located on a commercial strawberry farm, which is near Watsonville, Calif.

‘Malibu’ has not been observed under all possible environmental conditions, and the phenotype may vary significantly with variations in environment. The following observations, measurements, and comparisons describe this plant as grown under normal conditions in Watsonville, Calif. unless otherwise noted.

TABLE 1
Malibu

CharType	Characteristic	Malibu
General	Plant Habit	annual
	Plant Growth Habit	semi-upright
	Plant Height	31 cm
	Plan! Width	37 cm
	Plant Width-Crown	10 cm
	Density of foliage, vigor	light
	Plant vigor	moderate
Leaf	Terminal leaflet width (mm)	90
	Terminal leaflet length (mm)	85
	No. teeth/terminal leaflet:	16
	Shape of the terminal leaflet base	acute
	Shape of terminal leaflet	concave
	in cross-section
	Margin description of the terminal	serrate to crenate
	Color of upper side of leaves	137A
	Color of lower side of leaves	137C
	Leaf blistering	weak
	Leaf glossiness	medium
Limbs	Petiole length (cm)	17
	Petiole diameter (mm)	3
	Petiole color	145B
	Petiolule length (mm)	10
	Petiolule diameter (mm)	3
	Attitude of hairs on petiole	horizontal to
	and pedicel	upwards
	Stipule pubescence	sparse
	Stipule length (cm)	3.5
	Stipule size	medium
	Stipule width (cm)	1
	Stipule anthocyanin	present
	Stipule color (color code)	145A
	Pedicel color (color code)	145A
	Peduncle length (cm)	25
	Peduncle size	medium to large
	Peduncle attitude	erect
	Peduncle pubescence, attitude of hairs	medium, upwards
Inflorescence	Inflorescence position relative	above
	to foliage
	Flower arrangement of petals	touching
	Petal length (cm)	1.3
	Petal width (cm)	1.4
	Petal number per flower	5 to 6
	Upper Petal color	155A
	Lower Petal color	155B
	Calyx diameter (cm)	3.9
	Corolla diameter (cm)	2.6
	Sepal length (cm)	1.7
	Sepal width (cm)	0.9
	Time of flowering	March
	(50% of plants in bloom)
	Shape of stigma	capitate
	Color of stigma	14A
	Length of style (mm)	1.5
	Color of style	7D
	Color of the ovary	145B
	Length of the stamens (mm)	4.7
	Number of stamen	21 to 24
	Anther color	13B
	Shape of anther	dorsifixed
	Size of anther	medium
	Amount of pollen	abundant
	Color of pollen	14A
	Color of filament	149D
	Length of filament (mm)	3 to 6
	Number of flowers per truss	3 to 5
Stolon	Stolon number	1
	Stolon anthocyanin	181A
	Widest diameter of stolon	4.19
	At leaf attachment (mm)
	Stolon color	145A
Fruit	Number of fruit per truss	3 to 5
	Fruit length (cm)	4.2
	Fruit width (cm)	4.3
	Fruit skin color	45A
	Fruit flesh color excluding core	41A
	Fruit core length (cm)	4.1
	Fruit core width (cm)	1.7
	Fruit core color	37A
	Fruit weight (g)	24.5
	Predominant fruit shape	conic to long conic
	Shape difference between primary	Similar shape
	& secondary fruits
	Width of band without of achenes	medium
	Fruit glossiness	strong
	Position of achenes	below surface
	Achene color	150B
	Achenes per fruit	399
	Achene weight (g)	0.24
	Position of calyx	even to above
	level of adherence of calyx	medium
	Color of calyx	137A
	Firmness of flesh	medium
	Evenness of flesh color	nearly even
	Sweetness (brix)	11
	pH	3.48
	Yield (g per plant per season)	2208

When ‘Malibu’ is compared to the proprietary female parent ‘Dani’ (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 25,533), the petiole of ‘Malibu’ leaves is thicker than that of ‘Dani’ leaves. ‘Malibu’ produces fruits earlier than ‘Dani’ in the spring season. The flowers of ‘Malibu’ are visible above the canopy, while the flowers of ‘Dani’ are mostly below the canopy.

When ‘Malibu’ is compared to the proprietary male parent ‘Zarina’ (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 23,936), ‘Malibu’ is a medium-large sized plant, but ‘Zarina’ is a small-medium sized plant. Fruits of ‘Malibu’ are uniformly smooth and conic, while fruits of ‘Zarina’ are long-conic.

When ‘Malibu’ is compared to the check variety ‘Monterey’ (U.S. Pat. No. 19,767), ‘Malibu’ does not produce runners during the fruit production period, while ‘Monterey’ produces stolons during the fruiting period. The fruit yield of ‘Monterey’ is significantly greater than ‘Malibu’. In addition, fruits of ‘Monterey’ are less uniform than the fruits of ‘Malibu’ that are uniformly conical shaped.

When ‘Malibu’ is compared to the check variety ‘Merced’ (U.S. Pat. No. 25,436), the leaf trifoliate of ‘Malibu’ differs from that of ‘Merced’. ‘Malibu’ foliage allows for relatively more open canopy when compared to ‘Merced’ that has a closed canopy.

TABLE 2
Comparison of fruit features between ‘Malibu’ and the
proprietary male andfemale parents

				FRUIT
		FRUIT	FRUIT	RATIO
HYBRID	HYBRID	WIDTH	HEIGHT	(Height/
ID	NAME	(mm)	(mm)	Width)
105218	Male Parent	41.05	48.19	1.17
	(Zarina)
105429	Female Parent	41.99	48.86	1.16
	(Dani)
109221	Malibu	38.04	44.62	1.17
HYBRID	HYBRID	FRUIT	HARDNESS	Yield
ID	NAME	SHAPE*	(newtons)	(g/clone)
105218	Male Parent	7	7.52	974
	(Zarina)
105429	Female Parent	6	7.60	2076
	(Dani)
109221	Malibu	6	7.73	553
*Fruit shape: 1. Oblate; 2. Globose; 3. Fan Lobes; 4. Necked; 5. Short wedge; 6. Symmetric conic; 7. Conic; 8. Long conic; 9. Long wedge

TABLE 3
Comparison of fruit features between
‘Malibu’ and the check varieties

				FRUIT
		FRUIT	FRUIT	RATIO
HYBRID	HYBRID	WIDTH	HEIGHT	(Height/
ID	NAME	(mm)	(mm)	Width)
Check	Monterey	43.70	48.33	1.11
Variety
Check	Merced	40.40	45.19	1.12
Variety
109221	Malibu	36.96	43.38	1.17
HYBRID	HYBRID	FRUIT	HARDNESS	Yield
ID	NAME	SHAPE*	(newtons)	(g/clone)
Check	Monterey	6	9.04	840
Variety
Check	Merced	7	8.81	949
Variety
109221	Malibu	7	7.62	589
*Fruit shape: 1. Oblate; 2. Globose; 3. Fan Lobes; 4. Necked; 5. Short wedge; 6. Symmetric conic; 7. Conic; 8. Long conic; 9. Long wedge

Claims (1)

The invention claimed is:

1. A new and distinct cultivar of strawberry plant named ‘Malibu’ substantially as shown and described herein.

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