Genetic Gains Underpinning a Strawberry Green Revolution

The Green Revolutions in fruits and vegetables have been less well documented but collectively as important to global food security and human well-being as the Green Revolutions in wheat, rice, and other cereals. Using an unparalleled collection of breeding records, an equally unparalleled collection of clonally preserved and genotyped individuals tracing to the beginning of strawberry domestication, phenotypes of early and modern hybrids observed in coastal California environments, and single-step pedigree-genomic prediction of breeding values, we show that phenomenal genetic gains from breeding drove a 2,755% increase in yield and a billion kg increase in annual production over the last 60 years in the US, principally through expansion in California. One of the catalysts for this Green Revolution was the introduction of a single gene from a wild ancestor that more than doubled yields by eliminating photoperiod sensitivity and enabling year-round production in coastal California and beyond.