Yamaska

Yamaska

A june bearing strawberry cultivar for eastern central Canada and for Quebec growing conditions

'AC-Yamaska' is a new June-bearing strawberry cultivar (Fragaria x ananassa Duch.) bred for Eastern Central Canada and more specifically for Quebec growing conditions. 'AC-Yamaska' was released because of its very large, dark red, glossy fruit, its late ripening season (five to seven days after Bounty) which extends the strawberry harvest (Khanizadeh, 1994), and after receiving requests for propagation licences from Canadian and European nurseries. The Prefix 'AC' in the name is the abbreviation for 'Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada'. The name 'Yamaska' refers to a town located near the shore of Lake Saint-Peter, a widening of the St. Lawrence River between Richelieu and Nicolet counties. Yamaska located in a rich agricultural county where farming and market gardening are the main occupations. The name Yamaska is an native indian word meaning "where there is grass under the water" and it probably refers to the extensive marshes in the area.
Origin
'AC-Yamaska', tested as SJ89700-1, is a progeny from a cross between two late season cultivars, 'Pandora' and 'Bogota', made in 1989 by S. Khanizadeh. 'AC-Yamaska' has been tested at the Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada substation in L'Acadie, Quebec since 1990, and at the Macdonald Campus of McGill University in Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue during 1992-1994. It was also evaluated during 1996-1998 in controlled semi-commercial sites by our private partners Lareault Inc. and Les Fraises de l'Ile d'Orleans Inc. in Quebec and also in Europe by Kraege Gbr (Postfach 266, 48284 Telgte, Germany).
Description
Plants of 'AC-Yamaska' are very vigorous and produce 2-5 inflorescences each. They can tolerate winter temperatures below -30° C (with 10 cm straw mulch cover). Petioles are long with three large, dark green, flat, shinny, obovate leaflets, each with 22-28 serrations. Flowers are sometimes staminate similar to its parent 'Pandora'. 'AC-Yamaska' is a very late cultivar which produces very attractive and very large, uniform, dark red, shiny fruit. Fruit shape is oblate to globose and occasionally short-wedge. The flesh is dark throughout and fairly firm. Fresh fruit store well for up to 5 days at room temperature. 'AC-Yamaska' produced similar yields to the cultivars Joliette, Oka, Kent, Glooscap, Chambly, Bounty and the selection SJ8976-1. It out-yielded 'Sparkle' and 'Blomidon' and the late-midseason selection SJ89264-6. 'AC-Yamaska' had the most concentrated cropping compare to the other cultivars tested. Its ripening season was very late with fruits produced 5-7 days after 'Bounty' in our area. No symptoms of powdery mildew were noted since observations began in 1990. 'AC-Yamaska' plants are similar to 'Sparkle' in that they are moderately susceptible to the six North American Eastern (NAE) races of Phytophthora fragariae (A1 to A6) based on the presence of red-stele and oospores in the root segments (Khanizadeh et al. 1997). 'AC-Yamaska' is semi-resistant to leaf scorch (Diplocarpon earlina Ell. & Ev.), leaf blight (Dendrophoma obscurans Ell. & Ev.) and leaf spot (Mycosphaerella fragariae (Tul.) Lindau). No signs of grey mold fruit rot were observed during the course of evaluation.
Availability
Contact the licenced nurseries or the breeder.

PBRO, US Patent and other patents

Frukt & Bär

Viola -Frukt & Bär - September 2005 (PDF)