Page 183 - Plant Canada 2024 Proceeding

PLANT CANADA 2024

[O155] DEVELOPING ‘STONY HARD’ PEACH TO MITIGATE CLIMATE CHANGE EFFECTS AND
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LONGER SHELF LIFE. Jayasankar Subramanian and Naincy Sharma . University of Guelph, Vineland
Station, ON
Correspondence to: jsubrama@uoguelph.ca

The stony hard gene in peach is not new but has not been looked up favorably so far. Only few varieties
with stony hard gene exist in the world and none of them seem to be suitable for Ontario based on our
observations at Vineland. We intend to develop peaches with stony hard genes that will be suitable for
the changing climate, by selecting cultivars from crosses involving stony hard parent. Due to their
prolonged shelf life and thus improving the chances of being consumed, these peaches, will reduce the
wastage and thus carbon footprint, contributing to mitigate climate change. Further the stony hard
peaches tend to hang longer in the trees and store better thus providing the growers huge advantage.
This will also reduce the post harvest spoilage thus reducing the greenhouse gas emissions. Finally, such
firmer fruits, which will contain all other traits of peach, are preferred by the younger generation over the
juicy fruits that tend to drip and considered messy by younger generation. Since the conventional
selection process will take multiple years, we are characterizing the gene PpYUC11 that confers stony
hard trait so that we can develop molecular markers for this gene. Using the molecular markers, we can
select them in the seedling stage in the greenhouse itself so only those expressing the gene will be
forwarded for further selection. This saves time, money and space and thus helps environment as well.

[O156] CRANBERRY RESPONSES TO IN-FIELD EXPERIMENTAL WARMING. Lauren A E Erland .
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1 Agriculture, University of the Fraser Valley, 33844 King Rd., Abbotsford, BC, V2S 7M8
Correspondence to: lauren.erland@ufv.ca

Cranberries (Vaccinium macrocarpon Ait.) are a speciality fruit crop which represent a $184M farm gate
value in 2022. British Columbia (B.C.) is one of the major cranberry producing regions in Canada, which
is second only to the United States for worldwide supply. Our recent work has shown that cranberry
growing regions will be differentially impacted under future climate scenarios with both temperature and
precipitation leading to potential challenges for producers. Producers in B.C. already use unique and
adapted mechanisms for cranberry production as approaches such as flooding, freezing and sanding
fields is not viable in the existing climate. Building on existing ongoing varietal evaluation studies at the
BC Cranberry Research Farm in Delta, BC, our objective was to examine the impacts of future climate
scenarios on cranberry growth and productivity through the application of passive in field warming
experiments. We have constructed passive warming chambers in three varieties of cranberries: Haines,
Mullica Queen and RS9811 in 2022. These represent an established variety (Mullica Queen), a newer
variety with delayed phenological development (Haines) and an unreleased variety with delayed colouring
(RS9811). These warming domes were found to increase temperatures by 3-5 °C which is representative
of future climate scenarios. Cranberries in warmed and control plots are monitored throughout the year
and data including phenology, growth patterns, bud set, fruit characteristics, quality and yield have been
monitored. While most effects on fruit yield are anticipated to be observed in year 2, we present year 1
data which has identified, as anticipated, an advance in phenological development, modification of upright
to runner development, reduced yield and phytochemical changes through an untargeted metabolomics
study.

[O157] EPIDEMEOLOGY OF NEOPESTALOTIOPSIS SPP. IN STRAWBERRY. Justin McNally , Adam
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Dale , Erica Pate , and Melanie Kalischuk . Department of Plant Agriculture, University of Guelph,
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Guelph, Ontario, Canada, N1G 2W1; Ontario Crop Research Centre, University of Guelph, Simcoe,
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Ontario, Canada, N3Y 4K3; and Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, Simcoe, Ontario,
Canada, N3Y 4K3
Correspondence to mkalisch@uoguelph.ca

Strawberry (Fragaria x ananassa Dutch.) is a popular fruit grown commercially for fresh market and
processing in Ontario with a farm gate value of $40 million. Neopestalotiopsis sp. is a new and emerging
pathogen that causes devastating root and crown rot disease in field and greenhouse strawberry.
Currently, chemical control methods and resistant germplasm are unavailable. To determine the
incidence of the pathogen in Ontario, a three-year monitoring project was initiated from 2020-2022. Fungi
were isolated from symptomatic strawberry tissues and characterized. Molecular techniques were used
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