HyRed

Cranberry

Variety Description

Varieties used for comparison: 'Stevens', 'Pilgrim' and 'Ben Lear'

Summary: 'HyRed' is an early maturing, high fruit colour cranberry variety. The vigour and berry size of 'HyRed' is similar to that of 'Stevens'. 'HyRed' blooms two weeks earlier than 'Stevens' and 'Pilgrim' and approximately one week earlier than 'Ben Lear'. The fruit of 'HyRed' develop more intense and more uniform colour than 'Stevens' and 'Pilgrim', even below the leaf canopy. 'Stevens' and 'Pilgrim' typically have more white fruit beneath the canopy. The fruit of 'HyRed' tend to be larger than those of 'Ben Lear' and typically more blocky in shape than the fruit of the reference varieties.

Description:

Cranberry is a perennial vine that has short, upright stems producing fruit and stolons that spread vegetatively. The candidate variety, 'HyRed', is an early maturing cranberry variety that produces fruit with high levels of anthocyanins, the pigments responsible for the red colour in cranberry. 'HyRed' fruit develop good colour, even beneath the leaf canopy. 'HyRed' has very vigourous growth, blooms early with good flower bud set and produces medium to large sized fruit. The fruit matures early in the season and is oval to globular in shape, often blocky with squared shoulders.

Origin & Breeding History: 'HyRed' is the result of controlled pollination at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1990. 'Stevens' was the female parent and an open-pollinated seedling selection of 'Ben Lear' (called BL8) was the male parent. 'HyRed' was selected in 1992 from field trials in Wisconsin, based on its very early colour and its enhanced flower bud set. 'HyRed' was initially micropropagated from a single stem and subsequently propagated from clonal cuttings derived from plots maintained true-to-type.

Tests & Trials: In 1999, Ocean Spray Cranberries, Inc., in cooperation with the University of Wisconsin and Rutgers University, set up regional trials in Richmond, British Columbia. Three 5x5m plots, with a 0.5m walkway around each, were planted for a number of varieties in a commercial cranberry bed. 'HyRed' was originally derived from Wisconsin stock and propagated so that each plot received 200 transplants. 'Stevens' and 'Pilgrim' were originally supplied from pure stock by the Rutgers Blueberry and Cranberry Research Station, Chatsworth, New Jersey, and handled similarly. Plot locations were assigned randomly within the research block. The plots were fully filled-in by the end of 2003. Samples were taken from each plot on October 5, 2004 and September 30, 2005 for fruit analysis. The fruit was immediately shipped to Ocean Spray Cranberries, Lakeville/Middleboro, Massachusetts, and frozen until analyzed using standard industry methods for fruit colour, measuring total anthocyanins (TAcy). Analysis of variance of the 2004 data found no significant difference between plots of each variety or between those of 'Stevens' and 'Pilgrim'. All plots of 'HyRed' were significantly higher in TAcy than those of the other two varieties (based on the Holm-Sidak multiple pairwise comparison procedure). Data courtesy of Dr. Rodney Serres, Ocean Spray Cranberries.

Comparison tables for 'HyRed' with reference varieties 'Stevens', 'Pilgrim' and 'Ben Lear'

2004 fruit colour (Total anthocyanins mg/100g)

2005 fruit colour (Total anthocyanins mg/100g)

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Cranberry: 'HyRed' (top & bottom left) with reference varieties 'Pilgrim' (top right) and 'Stevens' (bottom right)