Abstract

Three cultivars have been released recently; Glen Garry and Glen Lyon from SCRI and 'Malling' Augusta from East Malling. Augusta is the first cultivar arising from a backcrossing programme using Rubus 'cockburnianus' as donor of many-flowered laterals and late season. 'Malling' Autumn Bliss, with R. arcticus, R. occidentalis and R. ideaus strigosus in its ancestry, has been widely planted in England. Promising primocane selections currently on trial include four derived from Autumn Bliss crossed with early backcross derivatives of R. spectabilis. The main objectives of the programme and elite selections achieving some of these objectives are described. Rubus species have also been used as donors of pest and/or disease resistance. Four East Malling cultivars carry the gene A10 from R. occidentalis, conferring resistance to all four strains of Amphorophora idaei. R. occidentalis has also contributed to post-harvest fruit rot resistance, as has R. crataegifolius. Strong cane disease resistance is present in early backcross derivatives of R. pileatus and R. coreanus. Derivatives of R. coreanus, R. pileatus, R. phoenicolasius and R. spectabilis have all showed some resistance to pathogenic Phytophthora megasperma.