EVIDENCE OF XENIA IN BLUEBERRY

Results from a pollination study in rabbiteye (RE) (Vaccinium ashei) and southern highbush (SH) (primarily V. corymbosum) blueberry suggested xenic effects on fruit development period (FDP) and berry weight.
The pollen parent significantly affected FDP in both blueberry types.
There was a trend for pollen from late ripening cultivars to produce a longer FDP and pollen from early ripening cultivars to produce shorter FDP. The pollen parent also affected berry weight in SH blueberry.
Subsequent studies of SH crosses in 1995 and 1996 supported the 1990 results.
In 1995 and 1996 "males" differed at the 0.05 and 0.01 level, respectively for FDP and the 0.08 and 0.06 level, respectively, for berry weight produced on three "female" cultivars.
In 1995, FDP ranged from 53 days for ‘Cooper’ to 59 days for ‘Cape Fear’ and ‘O’Neal’ as pollen parents.
Berry weight ranged from 1.3 g/berry for ‘Cape Fear’ to 1.7 g/berry for ‘Gulfcoast’ and ‘O’Neal’ as pollen parents. ‘Cooper’ and ‘Gulfcoast’ as pollen parents significantly reduced fruit development period while ‘O’Neal’ produced the smallest berry weight in 1996. Possibly, xenia could be used to identify the best pollenizer parents to decrease FDP and increase yield in mixed cultivar plantings.

VI International Symposium on Vaccinium Culture

C. L. Gupton

Vaccinium ashei, Vaccinium corymbosum, metaxenia, pollenizer, fruit development period, fruit size

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.1997.446.16