Despite leaps in Arkansas blackberry breeding over the past few decades, there is still room for advancement with the help of genome-wide association mapping, consumer panels and a machine with a mouthful of a name — a gas chromatography-olfactometry-mass spectrometer.
Margaret Worthington, associate professor of fruit breeding and genetics for the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station, has tasted a lot of blackberries and knows what a good berry tastes like. But consumer sensory panels are more accurate and objective than a fruit breeder’s ratings, Worthington said.
As the principal investigator for a new USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) grant, she will use new genomic tools and novel approaches for improving flavor to support her efforts in propelling the largest public-sector breeding program for fresh-market blackberries in the United States.
The University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture’s blackberry breeding program has developed and patented 43 fresh-market blackberry cultivars, including many combining erect growth habit, thornlessness and improved shipping ability. The first primocane-fruiting blackberry cultivars, which produce fruit on first-year canes, were also developed in the breeding program. The experiment station is the research arm of the Division of Agriculture.
NIFA will administer the $650,000 Agriculture and Food Research Initiative grant over the next four years. In addition to more data from consumer panels, the grant also provides funding to conduct studies that identify genomic variants statistically associated with a particular trait, known as genome-wide association mapping.
Consumer sensory panels are considered the “gold standard for evaluating flavor in fruit crops,” Worthington said, but they cost money and time.
“This is all about discovering what drives consumer preference,” Worthington said. “Comparing the chemistry data on blackberries with consumer panel data, we’ll have much more power to make inferences about what consumers want and how to breed blackberries.”
She said that even with the rise in blackberry consumption and sales, inconsistent flavor is considered a barrier to industry growth. She added that a common complaint about blackberries from consumers and grocers is that they are too tart or not sweet enough, either from being picked too early or simply having an “off” taste.
The USDA-NIFA grant will support investigations that tie in the consumer sensory panel data with the different flavor volatiles found in the blackberry genotypes most favored by consumers, which is where the gas chromatography-olfactometry-mass spectrometer plays a role. This instrument can be used to analyze the chemical components of blackberry flavors, including specific flavor and aroma compounds called “volatiles.”
For more information: nifa.usda.gov
