HARNESSING GENETIC RESOURCES TO DEVELOP STRAWBERRY CULTIVARS WITH ENHANCED FRUIT NUTRITIONAL QUALITY AND CONSUMER PREFERENCE

The proposal expands on the research themes the UC Davis Strawberry Breeding Program has focused on for the past 10 years: improving flavor and aroma complexity of long-shelf-life varieties, suitable for production in California, the United States, and the World. This proposal will facilitate research and enhance breeding efforts for consumer-centric fruit quality and consumer preference. This project comprises four main objectives:Objective #1: To significantly increase the knowledge of phenotypic traits and genetic factors associated with consumer preference and willingness to buy. To achieve this goal we will (a) assess the diversity of fruit quality metrics to design a moderately sized panel of germplasm, (b) develop and calibrate an in silico preference score, capable of ranking varieties by consumer preference, and (c) cross-reference large populations of untrained consumers, a small population of high trained consumers, and in silico preference scores.Objective #2: To design and deploy breeding strategies using quantitative genetics and phenomics approaches for evaluating consumer preference in early generations. We will develop strawberry cultivars with improved productivity and profitability by (a) assessing the distributions of fruit quality metrics in large strawberry breeding populations, (b) measuring the genetic covariance between key fruit quality traits, including size, sugar:acid ratio, anthocyanins, vitamin C, firmness, and consumer preference; (c) developing early-stage phenomic and genomic tools for predicting fruit quality and preference using near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRs); (d) developing and deploying phenomic breeding strategies that incorporate information on multiple trait covariances contributing to commercial value.Objective #3: To increase the accessibility to high-quality germplasm and genetic resources to public and private programs and to improve the fruit quality, flavor, aroma, and nutriceutical value of strawberry varieties through genome and marker- informed breeding strategies. We will disseminate information regarding beneficial alleles in available germplasm and improve the accessibility of high-value donors by (a) updating available data in the USDA GRIN and NCGR system, (b) extending knowledge of beneficial alleles to public and private partners, and (c) putting the methods and approaches developed through this study into practice in our own breeding program. We believe we will improve the rate of genetic gain for expensive-to-measure traits by using multi-trait genomic selection (GS) with phenomics and correlated fruit quality traits.Our long-term goals are 1) to provide the genetic resources and breeding formulas to stakehold- ers, 2) to release cultivars with high yield, excellent shelf life, resistance to soil-borne diseases, resistance to fruit rot diseases, and preferred fruit quality, and 3) to release germplasm accessions with high concentrations of favorable quality alleles to deliver value to a diverse set of stakeholders in CA, the US, and around the world.