U.S. Patent PP30,564
Strawberry Plant
Description: ‘Florida Brilliance’ is a new release from the University of Florida’s strawberry breeding program located at the UF/IFAS Gulf Coast Research & Education Center. ‘Florida Brilliance’ demonstrates high early-season yields while maintaining excellent fruit quality.
During the 2016-2017 season, nearly 90% of the acreage in west-central Florida was planted in the two varieties ‘Florida Radiance’ and Sweet Sensation® brand ‘Florida127’. While both ‘Florida Radiance’ and ‘Florida127’ have higher yields in late-November and early-December than previous varieties, there is a need for further increases in early yield, when market prices tend to be highest.
Plants of ‘Florida Brilliance’ are moderately compact with open architecture, which allows air movement and easy visualization of the fruit. Plants of ‘Florida Brilliance’ have long pedicels which allows the fruit to be easily harvested. In replicated field trials in west-central Florida during the 2015-2016 and 2016-2017 seasons, early and total yields of ‘Florida Brilliance’ were greater than both ‘Florida Radiance’ and ‘Florida127’. ‘Florida Brilliance’ produced marketable yields of 70.0, 132.1, and 638.6 (November, December, and Total, respectively) grams/plant during the 2015-2016 season, and marketable yields of 30.3, 125.3, and 1014.4 (November, December, and Total) grams/plant during the 2016-2017 season. ‘Florida127’ produced marketable yields of 39.6, 75.3, and 411.9 grams/plant during the 2015-2016 season, and marketable yields of 14.1, 115.2, and 967.0 grams/plant during the 2016-2017 season.
Fruit of ‘Florida Brilliance’ are medium-large sized, with marketable fruit averaging roughly 20-21 g/fruit (average fruit weight is larger than ‘Florida Radiance’ but smaller than ‘Florida 127’). Fruit of ‘Florida Brilliance’ are broad-conic in shape and are juicy and moderately firm. Fruit of ‘Florida Brilliance’ display excellent, uniform shape throughout the season and do not produce elongated fruit early in the season. Fruit of ‘Florida Brilliance’ are medium-red externally, and the achenes are notably sunken, giving the fruit a highly glossy appearance. Fruit of ‘Florida Brilliance’ had lower post-harvest weight loss when compared to ‘Florida Radiance’ and ‘Florida127’ when cold stored for 9 days.
Fruit of ‘Florida Brillance’ display excellent quality and flavor. In flavor evaluations conducted by a trained sensory panel (USDA/ARS Hort. Science Research Laboratory, Ft. Pierce, FL) at five different points throughout two seasons, fruit of ‘Florida Brilliance’ consistently scored higher than ‘Florida Radiance’ and ‘Florida127’ in firmness ratings. In the same panel, ratings for sweetness and “strawberry flavor intensity” were not different than ‘Florida Radiance’ and were often lower than ‘Florida127’. In general, the soluble solids content (SSC), titratable acidity (TA), and SSC/TA ratio of fruit of ‘Florida Brilliance’ is very similar to that of fruit of ‘Florida Radiance’.
The disease resistance profile of ‘Florida Brilliance’ is somewhat similar to that of ‘Florida Radiance’, with a few exceptions. Plants of ‘Florida Brilliance’ appear to be slightly more resistant to acutatum fruit rot than plants of ’Florida Radiance’. Mortality of plants of ‘Florida Brillance’ due to phytophthora root rot and charcoal rot was lower than plants of ‘Florida Radiance’.
The data for this description was produced and compiled by researchers at the University of Florida’s Gulf Coast Research and Education Center, University of South Florida, and the USDA/ARS. For more information on this cultivar, please contact Dr. Vance M. Whitaker.
License Availability: FFSP has exclusively licensed the following entity for the propagation of the ‘Florida Brilliance’ Strawberry cultivar:
Florida Strawberry Patent Service Corporation
http://flastrawberry.com/