Canadian researchers develop hardy berry hybrids for northern climates

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada scientists are developing hybrid berry crops to boost nutrition and resilience for growers in northern climates.

Samir Debnath, a researcher with AAFC, has been working with northern berry crops including blueberry, lingonberry, cranberry, huckleberry, raspberry and strawberry.

He has focused on creating hybrids by crossing Canadian wild lingonberries with more productive European cultivars.

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Lingonberry is a very health-promoting crop. By combining these two, we can get more production, good figure of the plant and high antioxidant activity.

Debnath said the hybrids they have developed can be good candidates for the northern climates of Canada.

Wild lingonberry grows in abundance in northern Manitoba and is also native to British Columbia, Saskatchewan and Atlantic Canada.

Although European cultivars are more productive, Manitoba's wild lingonberries have higher antioxidant properties, according to Debnath.

In addition to being rich in antioxidants, lingonberry has anti-inflammatory properties.

This berry from the north has untapped potential as a versatile, flavourful and nutritious approach to maintaining kidney health,

said Chris Siow, a retired AAFC research scientist who collaborated on the work.

Debnath sent plant material to AAFC's Research and Development Centre in Morden, Man., where Oscar Molina conducted an evaluation trial.

In 2023, the Kitchen Garden at The Leaf at Assiniboine Park in Winnipeg received 50 lingonberry plants from the research centres.

Debnath notes that lingonberry prefers acidic soil conditions found in northern Manitoba, while alkaline soils in southern Manitoba have a higher pH.

The real potential lies in commercial production, according to the researchers.

Ongoing research hopes to establish hybrids that can adapt to conditions in Manitoba.

Debnath uses bioreactors for rapid plant growth, a technology that can produce thousands of plants from a single sample.

In Saskatoon, researcher Raju Soolanayakanahally at AAFC's Research and Development Centre works extensively with berry-bearing shrubs including sea buckthorn, buffaloberry, chokecherry, pin cherry and hawthorn.

One of his goals is to strengthen landscape resilience, enhance biodiversity and diversify agricultural landscapes.

Sea buckthorn is not native to Canada. It was brought from Eurasia, mainly from Siberia and immigrating folks from Ukraine and northern Russia in the early 1930s.

Soolanayakanahally said it was introduced mainly as an ornamental shrub to enhance biodiversity on farms.

A male and female cultivar is required for producing fruit.

Sea buckthorn is useful for erosion control, fixes nitrogen in the soil similar to legumes, and can be planted on marginal soils where other crops may not be productive, he said.

AAFC sourced genetics of sea buckthorn from the Himalayas, Nepal, China, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Finland to create a diversity gene bank at Indian Head, Sask.

Breeding began to develop varieties with soft thorns.

They can't be eliminated completely,

said Soolanayakanahally.

The research is part of AAFC's broader work to develop nutritious food crops, protect soil health and boost crop resilience in extreme weather.

With files from Winnipeg Free Press