Articles
BREEDING SOUTHERN HIGHBUSH BLUEBERRIES IN FLORIDA
Article number
574_20
Pages
149 – 152
Language
English
Abstract
Blueberry breeding at the University of Florida is based on phenotypic recurrent selection.
One-hundred parents are used each year to make 100 different crosses from which a total of 10,000 seedlings are grown.
In 4 sequential field tests, requiring 10 to 15 years, an effort is made to find the one or two seedlings from the 10,000 that have the best potential as cultivars.
The parents used include new seedlings that produce exceptionally good berries, old clones that have maintained high vigor with low plant mortality for many years in test plots, the most promising clones selected from each stage of testing, cultivars and selections from other breeding programs, and superior wild plants selected from the woods in the southeastern U.S. About half the selection pressure is directed toward improved bush characteristics and half toward improved berry characteristics.
Final testing is done in conjunction with growers.
Cultivars that are released are patented by Florida Foundation Seed Producers, Inc.
Licencing and royalty revenues are used to cover part of the costs of the breeding program.
One-hundred parents are used each year to make 100 different crosses from which a total of 10,000 seedlings are grown.
In 4 sequential field tests, requiring 10 to 15 years, an effort is made to find the one or two seedlings from the 10,000 that have the best potential as cultivars.
The parents used include new seedlings that produce exceptionally good berries, old clones that have maintained high vigor with low plant mortality for many years in test plots, the most promising clones selected from each stage of testing, cultivars and selections from other breeding programs, and superior wild plants selected from the woods in the southeastern U.S. About half the selection pressure is directed toward improved bush characteristics and half toward improved berry characteristics.
Final testing is done in conjunction with growers.
Cultivars that are released are patented by Florida Foundation Seed Producers, Inc.
Licencing and royalty revenues are used to cover part of the costs of the breeding program.
Publication
Authors
P.M. Lyrene
Keywords
Vaccinium corymbosum, Vaccinium darrowi, recurrent selection, low-chill varieties
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