I attempted to hybridise a strawberry with a raspberry, and I wrote numerous blog posts along the way documenting the progress.
I produced a few F1 plants, and from them some F2 plants. These plants displayed various morphological differences from both parent species. The plants looked superficially similar to a strawberry, and a lot of aggressive people said this cross was impossible, so I could not be certain that they were true hybrids without getting them independently tested.
The CSIRO offered to test some leaf samples for me to determine if they were hybrids. Long story short, based on protein and peptide level evidence it appears that the F1 and F2 plants are intergeneric strawberry raspberry hybrids.
No one has ever achieved this cross before. This means my plants are the first ever documented intergeneric hybrids between strawberry (Fragaria sp) and raspberry (Rubus sp).
The results can be seen below. The set size represents the number of peptides detected from
the samples (multiple peptides make a protein at the end). The number
on top of each column represents the peptides detected
from each sample type. You can see that the HF2 is completely different from each parent species and HF1.
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| Strawberry Raspberry Hybrid - proteomics results |
The below chart represents the top 20 peptide functional classes associated with the four sample type. These results also show the similarity and dissimilarity between the sample types based on their measured peptides.
My first F1 plants germinated in 2017 and the F2 in 2019. It has been such a long process that I was starting to worry that I would never have these tested, or that the results would be inconclusive. It is great to have such definitive results.
My strawberry raspberry hybrids are vigorous and set a lot of fruit. The taste of these strawberry x raspberry hybrids varies from plant to plant from sour to bland to really incredible.
While there is a naming convention for binomial nomenclature, giving
them a common name may be more difficult. My daughter wants to call
them "Stinkleberries". I kind of love that name, but don't think people
would want to eat them.
Below are some pictures of the leaf samples. I have described many of the morphological differences in previous blog posts.
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| F1 above, strawberry and raspberry parents below |
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| F1 above, strawberry parent below |
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| F2 on left, F1 on right |
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| Leaf samples that I sent |
I'm not sure what to do from here. These F1 and F2 plants could potentially be crossed with other species or other hybrids. This holds a lot of potential for breeding new plants with increased disease resistance and/or novel tasting berries without using genetic engineering.
It is amazing to think that this was thought to be impossible yet was achieved in my back yard, in my spare time, with no specialised equipment, and extremely limited access to germplasm. Imagine what could be done if I had more time and money to invest in projects like this.
If you want to help me in my plant breeding projects such as this feel free to buy something through my for sale page or even donate a few dollars to me through my PayPal.
Could you take cuttings of the yummy ones and copywrite it or something?
ReplyDeleteAmazing to see all your work paid off. Congratulations!
ReplyDeleteThanks Shane,
DeleteI couldn't have done it without you getting me in touch with the CSIRO.
We need to get something published on this soon. I would love to be a co-author on this (I could be part of the 'et al').
I am already planning on things to try and cross with these hybrids in spring. It is uncharted water and will be interesting to learn what can and can't easily cross with these hybrids.
This is amazing, congratulations! I've been following your blog for some years, and it's really inspiring for experimenting with plant breeding! Thank you and wish the best for you!
ReplyDeleteThis is quite interesting. I live in the United States, might try out a few crosses myself.
ReplyDeleteI ordered a few White Alpine strawberries - starting some other varieties from seed. Seems difficult to find other diploid strawberry species here - F. nilgerrensis or F. viridis would be fun to experiment with in Rubus hybridization attempts.
I have a bunch of probable Diploid Rubus species:
R. phoenicolasius
R. occidentalis - Local Wild Type
R. occidentalis Flava - Yellow Black Raspberry
R. leucodermis
R. cockburnianus - Aureus
R. idaeus - Encore Red Raspberry
The types listed above are all in the Subgenus Idaeobatus. They are mostly all diploids, with some exceptions within species.
Some of these have pink flowers, this could make hybrids pretty obvious.
I also have two strains of R. parviflorus. One is from mountain regions in California, another is from a wetter state / location. Also a diploid. These are sort of shrub-like - unsure of how well they would hybridize with a strawberry.
I also have a probable thicket of R. allegheniensis - which is also a diploid. Grows wild where I live alongside R. occidentalis. No idea how well a blackberry would work in a cross though.
Also have an unidentified creeping Rubus species. Also a few other species, different ploidy counts.
The local R. occidentalis, has red / white canes. Looks quite nice in the winter - usually happens with the mature canes. The young canes are blueish, rubbing the cane rubs off the coating. Would be very noticeable in a Fragaria hybrid. The fruit color would also be purple, Rubus idaeus x occidentalis usually ends up with purple colored fruit.
R. cockburnianus - Aureus hasn't arrived yet.
My only real worry with a Rubus x Fragaria hybrid would be that viruses from both parents might adapt to infect Fragaria - Rubus species.
Either way, nice work here. Really inspiring me - and others to attempt making our own interfamily hybrids.
Congrats from France ! Cant wait to buy it from a nearby store in the future ;)
ReplyDeleteHi there,
ReplyDeletethe plants are still alive, fruiting well, and stubbornly refusing to divide. I have lost a few plants but most have survived some surprisingly harsh conditions.
The F2 are probably my favourite tasting. I really need to try and back cross them with raspberry or another bramble berry and see what happens.
While I am truly appreciative of the CSIRO for testing these, many people online in plant breeding forums claim that the test undertaken is not conclusive. I don't know enough about proteomics to know for sure. This means I need to find somewhere else to test them.
If anyone knows anywhere in Australia who can test leaf samples and conclusively prove if these are or are not intergeneric hybrids I would love to hear from you!
Curious if you could send some f2 seeds or runners. Thinking of crossing with f. Viridis
ReplyDeleteSo far none of the plants have made any runners. I can send you some seeds. Let me know your email address, I won't publish your comment but I will email you back.
ReplyDeleteAlternatively, my email address can be found on my for sale page. I don't have any seed right now, but happy to collect and send you some in Spring. I would be curious to hear how you go crossing them.
ReplyDeleteHello, how are things on the fragaria X rubus hybrid front at the moment? I found your posts so far very interesting and may be trying to take up crossing a bit myself again after a failed attempt several years ago. :)
ReplyDelete