Phenological observations of fruit development and ripening progression of rabbiteye blueberry

Blueberry (Vaccinium spp.) has been gaining popularity due to its potential positive effects on human health.
One of limiting factors for efficient blueberry production is high harvesting costs.
In most blueberry cultivars, multiple hand harvest is necessary because each fruit on a single cluster matures at different times.
To solve this problem, deep understanding of ripening characteristics in blueberry cultivars is important.
Common cultivated species include rabbiteye blueberry (V. virgatum) (RE) and highbush blueberry (V. corymbosum) (HB). Compared to HB cultivars, the ripening characteristics of RE cultivars remains relatively less characterized.
In this study, we comparatively observed each berry size development and ripening progression in a cluster chronologically among two HB cultivars (‘O’Neal’ and ‘Sharpblue’) and two RE cultivars (‘Tifblue’ and ‘Homebell’). We found that RE ‘Tifblue’ and ‘Homebell’ showed relatively higher and lower uniformity among berries in a cluster in terms of size development and coloring rate compared with other cultivars.
We also found that highly variable total seed number in ‘Homebell’ could be related to the lower uniformity of fruit size in ‘Homebell’. Further characterization of ‘Tifblue’ fruit ripening would be intriguing toward the achievement of cluster ripening in blueberry through the modification of cultural practices, artificial manipulation and efficient breeding approach.

IV Asian Horticultural Congress – AHC2023

Y. Bao, H. Yamane, R. Tao

blueberry, fruit ripening, fruit size, seed number

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2024.1404.9