Courtney Weber

The primary goal of my program is to develop improved berry varieties to better serve the needs of the New York industry by integrating new technologies for investigating the fundamentals of disease and insect resistance, and fruit quality characteristics with traditional breeding practices. My breeding program has six variety development categories: short day strawberries (June-bearing), day-neutral strawberries (everbearing), floricane-fruiting red raspberries, primocane-fruiting red raspberries, new market raspberries including black and purple and primocane-fruiting blackberries. New varieties in any of these categories must have superior fruit quality including excellent flavor, large size, firm texture, attractive color, and extended shelf life relative to what is currently available to growers. New varieties that possess growth and yield characteristics suitable for New York growing conditions are being developed with the expectation that they will be successful in other regions of similar climate.

Through collaborative projects with food scientists and human health specialists superior varieties containing beneficial phytochemicals are being identified. Cooperation with pathologists and entomologists are providing insights into important pest problems in New York to allow us to develop strategies for dealing with growers' problems. Increasing consumer demand for berries by developing new varieties that have enhanced health benefits combined with superior eating quality are as important as increasing yield and pest resistance. Improved fruit varieties that consumers recognize as delicious, nutritious and attractive will keep New York growers competitive in the changing marketplace.

Selected Journal Publications

• Ward, J. A., Ponnala, L., & Weber, C. A. (2012). Strategies for transcriptome analysis in nonmodel plants. American Journal of Botany. 99:267-276.
• Hall, H. K., Hummer, K., Jamieson, A. J., Jennings, S. N., & Weber, C. A. (2009). Raspberry Breeding and Genetics. Plant Breeding Reviews. 32:1-290.
• Samuelian, S., Baldo, A., Pattison, J., & Weber, C. A. (2008). Isolation and linkage mapping of NBS-LRR resistance gene analogs in red raspberry (Rubus idaeus L.) and classification among 269 Rosaceae NBS-LRR genes. Tree Genetics & Genomes. 4:881-896.
• Pattison, J. A., Samuelian, S. K., & Weber, C. A. (2007). Inheritance of Phytophthora Root Rot Resistance in Red Raspberry Determined by Generation Means and Molecular Linkage Analysis. Theoretical and Applied Genetics. 115:225-236.
• Pattison, J. A., & Weber, C. A. (2005). Evaluation of Red Raspberry Cultivars for Resistance to Phytophthora Rot Root. Journal of the American Pomological Society. 59:50-56.
• Weber, C. A., Maloney, K. E., & Sanford, J. C. (2005). Performance of eight primocane fruiting red raspberry cultivars in New York. Small Fruits Review. 4:41-47.
• Weber, C. A., Maloney, K. E., & Sanford, J. C. (2005). Performance of eleven floricane fruiting red raspberry cultivars in New York. Small Fruits Review. 4:49-56.

Book Chapters

• Swanson, J., Weber, C. A., Finn, C. E., Fernandez-Fernandez, F., Sargent, D., Carlson, J. E., & Graham, J. (2011). Breeding, Genetics and Genomics of Rubus. p. 64-113 Genetics, Genomics and Breeding of Berries K. Folta and C. Kole (ed.), Science Publishers, Manchester, NH, USA.

Conference Proceedings

• Weber, C. A., Perkins-Veazie, P., Moore, P., & Howard, L. (2008). Environmental Effect on Antioxidant Content of Ten Raspberry Cultivars. Acta Hort. P. Banados and A. Dale (ed.), Proceedings of the 9th International Rubus Ribes Symposium, Proceedings of the 9th International Rubus Ribes Symposium 499-504 p.