Genotype, location, and harvest date effects on the sensory character of fresh and frozen red raspberries

Fruit from three red raspberry (Rubus idaeus L.) cultivars-'Glen Clova', 'G len Lyon', and 'Glen Moy'-were harvested from four sites on two harvest dat es and evaluated fresh or following storage at-20 degrees C to determine th e relative importance of genotype, harvest date, location and freezing effe cts on 19 sensory attributes using a trained sensory panel. Freezing and cu ltivar x freezing interaction effects were relatively large while site, har vest date, and other interactions were of minor importance. The cultivar x freezing interaction was caused by differential responses among cultivars f or the sensory attributes purple, juicy, sweet, and raspberry aroma with le ss discrimination among cultivars postfreezing, 'Glen Clova' fresh fruit re ceived the highest values for juicy, fruity, sweet, and raspberry aroma; 'G len Moy' fresh fruit received the highest values for purple; 'Glen Lyon' fr esh fruit received the lowest values for juicy, postfreezing, 'Glen Lyon' r eceived the highest values for purple and sweet and all three cultivars wer e similar for the other attributes. These data suggest that selection for i mproved postfreezing sensory characteristics should not rely solely on fres h fruit evaluations although further study of a more genetically diverse gr oup of genotypes would be beneficial. The significant cultivar and minimal harvest date and location effects suggest that these fruit sensory analysis methods should be useful in selecting raspberry genotypes with superior fr uit quality.