22 | The Blueberry News FloridaBlueberryGrowers.org
important traits for consumers. While most people will say
that the market is not paying for quality, there is growing
evidence that fruit from certain cultivars has been excluded
from specific stores, or cannot enter at a premium price level,
due to flavor characteristics. By improving blueberry flavor, we
can increase blueberry consumption and thus everyone in the
production chain benefits. There has been a significant effort
in this area for a long time in the breeding program. With
the information collected over the years, we now have a much
better understanding of the components that control blueberry
flavor. By 2020 we will begin incorporating molecular-marker
assisted selection for the most important flavor components.ACCELERATING THE DEVELOPMENT OF CULTIVARS
The use of molecular markers to accelerate the process of
selection in plant breeding has been proven in many species.
However, the genetics of blueberry is more complex than that of
many other plants. After proving these molecular methods can
be used in blueberry, and optimizing the methods specifically
for blueberry, we will begin implementing them in 2019 to
accelerate the selection of better cultivars.
WILD SPECIES HAVE BEEN THE BASIS OF
THE FLORIDA BLUEBERRY INDUSTRY
In the past, the use of Vaccinium species naturally occurring
in the southeastern U.S. made creation of the southern highbush
blueberry possible. In collaboration with Dr. Paul Lyrene, we are
continuing to explore the variability of these species, and the
incorporation of traits that are lacking in cultivated species.
DISEASE AND PEST SCREENING OF
CULTIVARS AND NEW SELECTIONS
In collaboration with Dr. Phil Harmon and Dr. Oscar
Liburd, we are working to develop screening protocols for the
most important blueberry diseases and pests. Norma Flor,
a postdoctoral associate, is currently working in screening
early selections and developing high throughput protocols for
diseases, while PhD student Marice Lopez will be working
to develop a reliable protocol for screening for gall midge
susceptibility. We have observed significant problems with
mites in the state, and limited options currently exist to controlthem. We have noted important differences between cultivars
in their resistance to mites, and will thus be exploring how
we can better characterize mite susceptibility in the breeding
program.FOCUSED RESEARCH ON BLUEBERRY POLLINATION
John Ternest recently joined Dr. Rachel Mallinger’s lab as
a PhD student focused on blueberry pollination issues. John
and Rachel will be conducting trials and research in multiple
areas related to blueberry pollination over the next few years,
including fruit set, floral characteristics that attract pollinators,
the impact of managed and wild pollinators, and other issues.HYDROGEN CYANAMIDE DOSAGE
In collaboration with Dr. Jeff Williamson, we are conducting
an experiment to determine the appropriate level of hydrogen
cyanamide to be applied to the recently released cultivar
‘Optimus.’ This is because in 2018 we observed decreased
performance in this cultivar, which appears to be related to
hydrogen cyanamide issues. We observed small differences
across treatments in 2019, and will re-run the experiment for
a second year in 2020 before releasing recommendations. We
also performed this experiment on an elite selection with high
potential to be released as a cultivar. Every year we expect to
include new elite selections in this type of experiment, so that
by the time of cultivar release this information will be available
to growers.A NEW POTENTIAL CULTIVAR FOR 2019
We are in the process of releasing a new cultivar. This
selection has had consistent performance for the last few years.
It is late blooming, but has a short bloom-to-ripening period
with early fruit production, large fruit, and concentrated
ripening. In addition, we evaluated its performance for
machine harvesting with excellent results. More information
will be available as soon as the release process is completed.research | continued from previous page
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CREDIT
by DR. PATRICIO MUNOZ, UF Assistant
Professor, Blueberry Breeding and Genomics LabBy improving blueberry flavor, we can
increase blueberry consumption and thus
everyone in the production chain benefits.