What was it all about?

Breeding strawberry with enhanced fruit flavour is one of the top priorities of the Australian Strawberry Breeding Program. Although several genes involved in flavour have been identified, markers at the molecular level are not well developed, which hampers strawberry breeding programs.

This project aimed to firstly determine the attributes of Australian-grown strawberries that consumers like, then identify compounds in the fruit that create these flavours and develop markers for those attributes at the genetic level, to assist breeding of superior varieties.

Researchers constructed aroma profiles and corresponding genetic data from three commercial cultivars and two breeding lines. They identified three compounds contributing to desirable strawberry flavour and found potential markers for them.

The reliability of these potential markers is being assessed in an ongoing study. The outputs from this research into desirable flavour compounds should accelerate the production of new Australian strawberry varieties.