Black Currant (Ribes nigrum) RITMO

Blackcurrant 'Ritmo' (syn. Bri 9508-3B)

'Ritmo' is a modern, early blackcurrant variety resulting from a successful international breeding program. It stands out primarily for its very large fruits with a good, sweet taste and high yield.

Blackcurrant 'Ritmo'

Thanks to its comprehensive resistance to fungal diseases and pests, it represents an excellent and reliable choice for both commercial plantations and home gardens.

Main advantages of the variety:

• Early ripening.
• Large to very large fruits with a good, sweet taste.
• Very good yield.
• Comprehensive and very good resistance to fungal and viral diseases.
• Good resistance to the blackcurrant gall mite.
• Good separation of berries from the stem.

Origin and Breeding

• Origin: Lithuania. The variety is the result of a joint international breeding program (1995-2001) involving institutes from Sweden, Lithuania, Latvia, and Russia.
• Breeder: Lithuanian Institute of Horticulture (Lietuvos agrarinių ir miškų mokslų centro filialas Sodininkystės ir daržininkystės institutas, Babtai).
• Crossing: Created by crossing the varieties 'Gagatai' and 'Intercontinental'. During testing, it carried the designation Bri 9508-3B.
• Registration: The variety passed official DUS tests (Distinctness, Uniformity, Stability) at the Polish institute COBORU in 2013-2016.

Detailed variety description: Bush and Growth

• Vigor: Medium to strong (tall bush).
• Habit: Semi-upright and bushy habit. Forms a medium number of skeletal (basal) shoots.
• Shoots: One-year-old shoots are greyish with medium anthocyanin (reddish) coloration.
• Buds: Vegetative buds are short, with a narrow and sharp apex, strongly standing out from the shoot. They have medium to strong anthocyanin coloration and a weak wax coating.
• Leaves: The leaf blade is long and medium wide to wide. The leaf base is slightly open. The upper side of the leaf has a medium green color without gloss (or with only very weak gloss). The petiole has weak anthocyanin coloration.
• Flowering: Flowers early. Inflorescences are long and contain many flowers (more than 4 in the leaf axil).

Fruits (Berries) and Chemical Composition

• Size: Large to very large.
• Color: Brownish black with medium gloss.
• Strigs: Medium long (panicle type). The berries are characterized by good (easy) separation from the stem.
• Taste: Good, sweet taste.
• Chemical composition: Contains 16.3% soluble solids (Brix), 2.6% titratable acids, 90.3 mg/100 g of vitamin C (ascorbic acid), 247.0 mg/100 g of phenols, and 173.5 mg/100 g of anthocyanins.

Cultivation properties and characteristics

• Phenology:
  • Ripening: Early ripening variety. Harvesting begins in the early to medium-early period.
  • Yield: Very good yield.
• Resistance and requirements:
  • Diseases: Characterized by very good resistance to leaf spots (e.g., Drepanopeziza ribis, Mycosphaerella ribis), rust, and blackcurrant reversion virus.
  • Pests: Has good resistance to the blackcurrant gall mite.
  • Frost resistance: Showed good adaptability to climatic conditions in tests.

Drawbacks of the variety:

• No obvious cultivation drawbacks emerge from the available materials. (Compared to the 'Viktor' variety, it has a lower vitamin C content, which is, however, common for varieties with this genetic background).