Assessing the performance of blackberry cultivars in central Alabama, southern USA

A blackberry cultivar study was established at the Chilton Research and Extension Center, Clanton, AL, USA in 2014. The trial consisted of two five-plant replications per cultivar.
Data collection included yield, weight of 25-fruit samples, and number of fruit with white drupelets out of the 25-fruit sample each harvest.
Only floricane-produced fruits were included in the assessment.
Soluble solids content was evaluated in 2017 and 2019. Cultivars evaluated were ‘Caddo’, ‘Kiowa’, ‘Natchez’, ‘Osage’, ‘Ouachita’, ‘Prime-Ark 45’, ‘Prime-Ark Freedom’, and ‘Sweetie Pie’. ‘Kiowa’ consistently had high yields, greatest individual berry weight (~8.0 g), and among the lowest soluble solids content. ‘Osage’ produced high yields of smaller berries (~4.7 g). ‘Sweetie Pie’ fruit had high soluble solids content. ‘Osage’ and ‘Prime-Ark 45’ had fewer berries with white drupelets compared to ‘Kiowa’, ‘Natchez’, ‘Ouachita’, and ‘Sweetie Pie’. Although ‘Kiowa’ has proven to be a reliable cultivar for central Alabama, with high yields of large fruit, the respectable performance of many of these newer thornless cultivars warrant their inclusion in blackberry plantings.

XIII International Rubus and Ribes Symposium

J.D. Spiers, E.L. Vinson III

‘Kiowa’, Rubus, white drupelet, yield

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2024.1388.56