A new variety of strawberry - bred and developed entirely in Scotland - looks set to be on supermarket shelves by next summer.

Several years of research have gone into developing the fruit, which promises to taste better and cost customers less.

Strawberries which are developed in Scotland are mainly of the El Santa variety, which is originally Dutch.

But it has a short harvest of about four weeks and the fruit appear all at once.

'Commercial success'

It is also labour-intensive and therefore an expensive business.

But now Angus Soft Fruits - a business involving farmers on the east coast - say they are hopeful of commercially growing a new berry which produces fruit continually over five months.

The new strawberry, developed with the help of Israeli scientists, has undergone trials and small-scale production.

The project began with 25,000 seedlings two years ago.

They were whittled down to three varieties - one of which will be chosen next month for full-scale commercial production next year.