Research into blackcurrants that like it mild
24 February 2010
New varieties of blackcurrant that need less chilling in winter may soon appear in gardens as concern deepens over the effects of climate change on certain types of fruit.
Most varieties of blackcurrant, apple, pear, hop and rhubarb need a long spell of cold weather below 7°C to set fruit reliably the following summer. Blackcurrants in particular show uneven bud break and poor fruit quality following mild winters and, with data showing a 12 per cent reduction during the last century in the amount of time the weather stays below 7°C in the south-east, there's serious concern about their future.
Research by the Scottish Crops Research Institute, funded by Ribena manufacturer GlaxoSmithKline, has bred two new blackcurrant varieties, provisionally named 'Ben Vane' and 'Ben Klibreck', which crop more reliably even after mild winters. At the moment the new varieties are only available to commercial growers, but similar strains are also under development for gardeners.
Meanwhile, the head of science at East Malling Research in Kent, Chris Atkinson, has called for more research into how plants respond to such winter chilling, saying not enough is known about the phenomenon. He warns against complacency following this year's particularly cold winter, saying long-term statistics tell a different story.
'It varies depending on where you are in the country, but there are fewer frost days,' he says. 'When you look forward using these scenarios it suggests the impact would be greater in future on the south-east than in Scotland.'
He says we may have to switch to fruit that needs less winter chilling in future, choosing warm-climate apple varieties like 'Braeburn' and swapping our blackcurrants and rhubarb for persimmons, peaches, apricots or grapes.