Strawberry color is a critical quality attribute that directly affects consumer perception and purchasing decisions. The combined research examines how genetic differences among cultivars, production systems, and storage conditions interact to influence key color components such as brightness, hue, and intensity.
One study focuses on genotypic heterogeneity, revealing significant variation in color characteristics among strawberry cultivars at harvest and during storage. The findings show that some genotypes maintain more stable and desirable color profiles over time, while others are more prone to changes such as darkening or loss of vibrancy during storage.
The second study expands on these findings by evaluating how different production systems affect color development and retention. Results indicate that growing conditions can influence the expression of color traits at harvest, as well as how those traits evolve during postharvest handling. Differences in light exposure, season, and cultivation practices were found to contribute to variability in color outcomes among cultivars.
Together, the studies highlight that both genetics and production environment play essential roles in determining strawberry color quality. Importantly, the interaction between these factors continues to affect fruit appearance after harvest, underscoring the need for integrated management strategies that extend from field production through storage and distribution.
The research also identifies opportunities for breeders to select cultivars with improved color stability and for growers to refine production practices that enhance visual quality. Postharvest handling protocols may also be optimized to preserve color attributes that are critical for marketability.
By providing a more complete understanding of how color develops and changes over time, these studies support efforts to improve consistency and consumer appeal in strawberries. The findings offer practical direction for enhancing fruit quality across the entire supply chain, from breeding and production to storage and retail display.
These studies also highlight the longstanding and highly productive interdisciplinary partnership between plant breeding and statistical science at USDAARS. Beginning with the collaboration between breeder Kim Lewers and retired statistician Brian Vinyard and continuing today with Lewers and Nora M. Bello, this team exemplifies how integrated expertise can deliver state of the art answers to practical questions facing the horticultural industry. Their work reflects a shared commitment to addressing real world challenges for growers through rigorous, collaborative research.
This research was conducted by strawberry breeder Kim Lewers and statistician Nora M. Bello of the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service to strengthen and advance the USDA-ARS strawberry breeding program. Breeders routinely evaluate traits such as fruit color, and modern handheld tools now allow these assessments to be made with greater precision than relying on human judgment alone. Because the studies involved many different strawberry genotypes, two production systems, and repeated measurements across the growing season and after harvest, advanced statistical approaches were essential for identifying clear, meaningful patterns in color development and stability. The work demonstrates how collaboration between plant breeding and statistical expertise leads to more robust, practical results for the strawberry industry.
Dr. Lewers is a Research Geneticist (Plants) for the USDA developing improved cultivars of valuable fruit crops while studying inheritance of important traits and developing molecular markers and genetic maps to help track these traits in breeding populations.
The full articles can be read on the ASHS HortScience electronic Journal website at:
https://doi.org/10.21273/HORTSCI19030-25 and https://doi.org/10.21273/HORTSCI19031-25
Established in 1903, the American Society for Horticultural Science is recognized around the world as one of the most respected and influential professional societies for horticultural scientists. ASHS is committed to promoting and encouraging national and international interest in scientific research and education in all branches of horticulture.
Comprised of thousands of members worldwide, ASHS represents a broad cross-section of the horticultural community – scientists, educators, students, landscape and turf managers, government, extension agents and industry professionals. ASHS members focus on practices and problems in horticulture: breeding, propagation, production and management, harvesting, handling and storage, processing, marketing and use of horticultural plants and products. To learn more, visit ashs.org.
