Irish researchers develop weather-resistant super strawberry

DUBLIN (Reuters) -- Fruit researchers in Ireland have developed a strawberry which they say is impervious to the country's notoriously damp climate.

Finnain MacNaeidhe, director of the state-sponsored Soft Fruit & Bee-Keeping Research Centre in southeast Ireland, said he was confident the new variety, which has taken 15 years to develop, would prove commercially viable.

"It's a breakthrough. This new variety is resistant to wet weather and all the common diseases -- such as phylopthora (root rot) -- that go with it," MacNaeidhe told Reuters.

He said the new strawberry, code-named CL380, was also capable of sustained yields over four years or more and would effectively halve the cost of production for strawberry farmers.

"Most standard varieties yield on average some 10 ton per hectare for a couple of years and then fade rapidly. Our strawberry yields 16 ton per hectare for four years or more."

The CL380 will undergo further tests in England before being sent for growth trials throughout Britain and in France.

MacNaeidhe said he hoped the variety would be ready for commercial launch by next summer and that he expected strong demand from growers across northern Europe.

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