Strawberry plant named ‘Driscoll El Dorado’

[0001] 1. Latin name of the genus and species of the plant claimed: The variety is botanically identified as Fragaria×ananassa.

[0002] 1.1 Variety denomination: The strawberry variety denomination is ‘Driscoll El Dorado’.

[0003] The new variety originated as a result of a controlled cross between the strawberry plants ‘62C131’ (unpatented) and ‘Camarosa’ (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 8,708) in an ongoing breeding program, and was discovered as a seedling in Ventura County, Calif. in 1999. The original seedling of the new cultivar was asexually propagated by stolons in a Nursery in Shasta County, Calif. Propagules were transplanted to a controlled breeding plot in Ventura County, Calif., where the variety was identified and selected for further evaluation. ‘Driscoll El Dorado’ was subsequently asexually propagated and underwent further testing in Ventura County, Calif. for five years. This propagation and testing has demonstrated that the combination of traits disclosed herein which characterize the new variety are fixed and retained true to type through successive generations of asexual reproduction.

[0004] The present invention relates to a new and distinct variety of strawberry named ‘Driscoll El Dorado.’ The variety is botanically identified as Fragaria×ananassa. The new variety is distinguished from other varieties by a number of characteristics as set forth in Tables 1-4.

[0005] The varieties which we believe to be similar to ‘Driscoll El Dorado’ from those known to us are ‘Camarosa’ (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 8,708) and ‘Ventana’ (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 13,469). There are several characteristics of the new variety that are different from, or not possessed by ‘Camarosa’ and ‘Ventana’. For example, the new variety has a greater number of teeth per Terminal Leaflet, fewer achenes per fruit, a rounded shape of the base of terminal leaflets, a rounded shape of the teeth terminal leaflets, sparse to medium petiole pubescence, larger size of calyx in relation to fruit on secondary fruit, and a medium sized hollow center of fruit.

[0006] Maternal Parent ‘62C313’ was not available for side by side comparison with ‘Driscoll El Dorado’. ‘Driscoll El Dorado’ is distinguished from its maternal parent ‘62C313’ by its earlier date of harvest commencement, firmer fruit flesh, and less creasing on the fruit. ‘Driscoll El Dorado’ is distinguished from its paternal parent ‘Camarosa’ as indicated in Tables 1-4.

[0013] The following detailed description of the new variety is based upon observations taken of plants and fruit grown in Ventura County, Calif., U.S.A. This description is in accordance with UPOV terminology. Observations of ‘Driscoll El Dorado’, ‘Camarosa’ and ‘Ventana’ were taken in side by side comparison in the 2004 spring season. Plants were grown in raised beds of soil under conditions typical of commercial strawberry production in Southern California. Fruits were harvested twice weekly for yield determination from early January to late May. Measurements of plant, flower, and fruit characteristics were made in April, approximately six months after planting. Color designations, color descriptions, and other phenotypical descriptions may deviate from the stated values and descriptions depending upon variation in environmental, seasonal, climatic and cultural conditions. Colors are described and the most similar color designations are provided from The Royal Horticultural Society (R.H.S.) Colour Chart.

[0014] The new variety is principally propagated by way of stolons. Although propagation by stolons is presently preferred, other known methods of propagating strawberry plants may be employed.

[0015] Information on the new variety is presented in Tables 1, 2, 3 and 4. In the tables, the flowers described are secondary flowers except where indicated. The fruit described is the secondary fruit on six month old plants. Fruit and flower measurements are an average of both primary and secondary fruit and flowers.

[0016] Table 1 provides information on the plant and fruit characteristics of the new variety ‘Driscoll El Dorado’ compared with characteristics of ‘Camarosa’ and ‘Ventana.’ Table 2 provides additional information of the plant and fruit characteristics of the new variety ‘Driscoll El Dorado’ compared with characteristics of the varieties ‘Camarosa’ and ‘Ventana.’ Table 3 provides reactions of the new variety to stresses, pests and diseases compared with reactions of the varieties ‘Camarosa’ and ‘Ventana.’ Table 4 provides isozyme characteristics of the new variety as compared to that of the varieties ‘Camarosa’ and ‘Ventana.’

[0017]

TABLE 1
QUANTITATIVE COMPARISON OF ‘DRISCOLL EL DORADO,’
‘CAMAROSA,’ AND ‘VENTANA’
	‘Driscoll El
	Dorado’	‘Camarosa’	‘Ventana’
Plant Characteristics
Height of Plant (cm)	24.0	30.7	24.8
Spread of Plant (cm)	27.5	31.4	28.3
Number of Crowns	5.4	8.8	5.4
Leaf Characteristics
Terminal Leaflet Length (cm)	7.4	7.5	7.3
Terminal Leaflet Width (cm)	6.0	6.8	5.6
Terminal Leaflet	1.24	1.10	1.31
Length/Width Ratio
# Teeth/Terminal Leaflet	20.5	18.5	18.3
Color of upper side	139A	141A	141A
	medium to	medium	light to
	dark green	green	medium
			green
Color of under side	138B	138C	139C
	light gray	light gray	light gray
	green	green	green
Petiole Length (cm)	16.6	21.0	18.0
Petiole Color	145B	145A	145A
	yellow green	yellow green	yellow green
Petiolule Length (mm)	7.0	12.1	5.8
Petiolule Diameter (mm)	2.0	1.8	1.8
Petiolule Color	145B	144B	145A
	yellow green	yellow green	yellow green
Bract Frequency	0	0	0
Stipule Length (cm)	3.49	3.30	3.52
Stipule Width (cm)	1.0	1.2	1.1
Stolon Characteristics
Anthocyanin color	59C
Diameter at bract (mm)	2.59
Avg. # of Daughter plants	129
(2003 Nursery)
Flower Characteristics
Petal Length (cm)	1.24	1.13	1.25
Petal Width (cm)	1.24	1.11	1.32
Petal Length/Width Ratio	1.00	1.02	0.95
Flower Diameter (cm)	2.45	2.21	2.73
Calyx Diameter (cm)	4.10	4.23	3.66
Sepal Length (mm)	18.05	17.92	15.31
Sepal Width (cm)	7.61	7.72	6.00
Petal Color	155C	155C	155C
	white	white	white
Receptical Color	7A	7A	7A
	yellow green	yellow green	yellow green
Anther Color	14B	14B	14B
	yellow	yellow	yellow
Fruiting Truss Length (cm)	24.5	25.2	24.2
Fruit Characteristics
Fruit Length (cm)	4.5	4.7	4.4
Fruit Width (cm)	4.1	3.5	3.6
Fruit Length/Width Ratio	1.10	1.33	1.21
Average Berry Weight (g)	22.8	21.3	24.4
External Color	46A	46A	44A
	dark red	dark red	red
Internal Color	42A	43A	42B
	orange red	medium red	orange red
Achene Coloration	12B to 184A	11A to 179B	11A to 176B
	yellow to	yellow to	yellow to
	grayed red	grayed red	grayed red
Achenes per berry	247	310	319
Achene weight (g)	0.00049	0.00055	0.00042
2004 Marketable Yield	830	766	1,016
(g/plant)

[0018]

TABLE 2
QUALITATIVE COMPARISON OF ‘DRISCOLL EL DORADO,’
‘CAMAROSA,’ AND ‘VENTANA’
	‘Driscoll El
	Dorado’	‘Camarosa’	‘Ventana’
Plant
Habit	globose	globose	flat globose
Canopy Density	dense	dense	dense
Vigor	strong	strong	medium to
			strong
Leaf
Shape in cross section	slightly	concave	concave
	concave
Interveinal blistering	weak	medium to	weak to
		strong	medium
Glossiness	medium	weak to	weak to
		medium	medium
Number of leaflets	three only	three only	occasionally
			4
Terminal leaflet margin	revolute to	revolute to	revolute
profile	flat	flat
Terminal leaflet shape of base	rounded	obtuse	slightly
			oblique
Terminal leaflet shape of teeth	rounded	obtuse	obtuse
Stipule pubescence	sparse	medium	medium
Petiole pubescence	sparse to	dense	dense
	medium
Petiole pose of hairs	upwards to	upwards	upwards
	outwards
Stolon
Anthocyanin coloration	medium
Thickness	thin
Pubescence	medium
Inflorescence
Position relative to foliage	above	level with to	level with to
		above	above
Diameter of calyx relative to	larger	larger	smaller
corolla on secondary flowers
Diameter of inner calyx	smaller to	smaller	larger
relative to outer on secondary	same size
flowers
Spacing of petals	overlapping	overlapping,	touching to
		occasionally	overlapping
		free
Fruiting Truss
Attitude at first picking	prostrate	prostrate	prostrate
Fruit
Predominant shape	conical	almost	conical to
		cylindrical	almost
			cylindrical
Difference in shapes between	slight	moderate to	slight to
primary and secondary fruits		marked	moderate
Band without achenes	narrow to	medium to	narrow to
	medium	broad	medium
Unevenness of surface	weak	strong	medium
Evenness of color	even	slightly	even
		uneven
Glossiness	strong	strong	strong
Insertion of achenes	below	below	below
	surface	surface	surface
Insertion of calyx	level	set above	level
		fruit
Pose of the calyx segments	spreading to	spreading to	spreading
	reflexed	reflexed
Size of calyx in relation to	larger	same size to	smaller
fruit on secondary fruit		smaller
Adherence of calyx	strong	strong	strong
Firmness of flesh	firm	firm to	extremely
		extremely	firm
		firm
Evenness of flesh color	slightly	even	slightly
	uneven		uneven
Distribution of flesh color	mariginal	mariginal	mariginal
	and central	and central	and central
Hollow center size	medium	small	small
Sweetness	medium	medium	medium
Texture when tasted	medium	coarse	coarse
Acidity	medium	medium	medium
Time of First Flowering in	Late-	Late-	Late-
2003-2004	November	November	November
Harvest Interval in 2004	Early-	Early-	Early-
	January to	January to	January to
	Late-May	Late-May	Late-May
Type of Bearing	partially	partially	June bearing
	everbearing	everbearing

[0019]

TABLE 3
REACTIONS TO STRESS PESTS AND DISEASES FOR ‘DRISCOLL
EL DORADO,’ ‘CAMAROSA,’ AND ‘VENTANA’
	‘Driscoll El
	Dorado’	‘Camarosa’	‘Ventana’
Reaction to Pests
Tetranychus urticae	susceptible	moderately	moderately
		resistant	resistant
Lygus hesperus	susceptible	susceptible	susceptible
Reaction To Diseases
Botrytis fruit rot	susceptible
Powdery mildew	moderately	moderately	moderately
	resistant	resistant	resistant
Verticillium wilt	moderately		moderately
	susceptible		susceptible
Strawberry Mottle Virus	moderately	moderately	moderately
	resistant	resistant	resistant
Xanthomonas fragariae	moderately
	susceptible

[0020] In addition to the morphological description above, the new cultivar ‘Driscoll El Dorado’ has been analyzed to obtain an indication of its genetic makeup to provide further means for identifying the new variety and distinguishing it from other somewhat similar and/or related strawberry varieties. Specifically, leaf samples of ‘Driscoll El Dorado’, ‘Camarosa’ and ‘Ventana’ were analyzed by electrophoresis for isozyme patterns of the enzymes phosphoglucoisomerase (“PGI”), leucine aminopeptidase (“LAP”) and phosphoglucomutase (“PGM”). See J. Amer. Soc. Hort. Sci. 106:684-687. Isozyme characterizatin of the three varieties is presented in Table 4, with the letters representing the banding patterns for each enzyme as designated in the above-identified article.

[0021]

TABLE 4
ISOZYME ANALYSIS FOR ‘DRISCOLL EL DORADO,’
‘CAMAROSA,’ AND ‘VENTANA’
		‘Driscoll El
	Locus	Dorado’	‘Camarosa’	‘Ventana’
	PGI	A2	A2	A1
	LAP	B1	B3	B1
	PGM	C3	C1	C2