Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/132109
New Varieties STELLAR lineage Stella, the first self-fertile variety with acceptable fruit quality, was a breakthrough. by Geraldine Warner "It really set the industry on a path to success and that led to other varieties." —David Lane T he Pacific Northwest cherry industry is seeing the effects of a shift to self-fertile varieties in the form of higher and more consistent production. Self-fertile varieties, such as Chelan, Skeena, or Sweetheart, can produce almost double the yields of standard varieties like Bing, and can still produce the large cherries that the market demands. It was more than 50 years ago that Dr. Charles Lapins, cherry breeder at Summerland, British Columbia, Canada, recognized the need for self-fertile cherries, recalls Dr. David Lane, who worked with Dr. Lapins as a student in 1967 and went on to succeed him as breeder in 1974. Other stone fruits, such as peaches and plums, didn't suffer the same variability in yields due to poor pollinating conditions because they were self-fertile. Dr. Lapins wanted to incorporate the same characteristic into the cherry varieties he was breeding. The Pacific Northwest cherry industry is seeing the effects of a shift to self-fertile varieties in the form of higher and more consistent yields. In the 1950s, Dr. Dan Lewis and colleagues at the John Innes Institute in England had developed self-compatible cherry seedlings by pollinating Emperor Charles Lapins Francis with irradiated pollen from recognized the need Napoleon. for self-fertile Dr. Lapins wrote to the John Innes cherries. Institute asking for pollen from the selffertile cherry trees so he could use it in his crosses. He received pollen from two selections: JI 2420 and JI 2434. Stella, which came from a cross of Lambert and JI 2420, was the first variety that Dr. Lapins developed that had both selffertility and reasonable fruit quality. It is thought that he named it after his wife, Ella, adding the prefix to keep it consistent with the Summerland tradition of using names beginning with S. Lane said JI 2420—the one that Stella came from— gave much better progeny than the other John Innes selection. As a result, most of the self-fertile varieties available today have Stella in their parentage. "It was quite controversial when the self-fertile varieties first came out," Lane recalled during a phone interview with Good Fruit Grower. "People thought they would overset, would make the cherries small, and would be nothing but trouble." Stella itself was not a perfect variety, he added. "It was kind of soft and never became an important variety." But one of its offspring, the cherry named after Dr. Lapins, did prove valuable. Lapins, a cross of Van and Stella, was released in 1984 and gave the British Columbia cherry industry a muchneeded boost. Buyers liked the size and quality, growers received high prices for it, and it cropped dependably. "It really set the industry on a path to success and that led to other varieties," Lane said. The vast majority of the varieties released since 1973 have Stella in their parentage (see "Summerland cherry releases"). Stella has also been widely used as a parent by other cherry breeders in Washington State and around the world. More efficient Frank Kappel, cherry breeder from 1994 to 2011, said self-fertile varieties have enabled growers to plant solid blocks of cherries without pollinizing varieties, which makes their operations more efficient. In addition, production has been more consistent than with traditional varieties whose production can vary from year to year depending on pollinating conditions. In recent years, the program has been making crosses using material derived from the other self-fertile selection that came from the John Innes Institute. The original selection is no longer available, but the breeders have been using crosses that were made in the past from JI 2434, and backcrossing in an attempt to improve fruit 20 June 2013 GOOD FRUIT GROWER www.goodfruit.com