ISHS Acta Horticulturae 715: VIII International Symposium on Vaccinium Culture
PERFORMANCE OF OLD AND NEW RABBITEYE BLUEBERRY CULTIVARS FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA BREEDING PROGRAM |
| Author: | D.S. NeSmith |
| Keywords: | Vaccinium ashei Reade, yields, berry size, berry quality, flowering time, ripening time |
| Abstract:
Blueberry cultivar development efforts have been carried out by University of Georgia scientists for several decades, with considerable cooperation with USDA personnel. Notable older rabbiteye blueberry (Vaccinium ashei Reade) cultivars from this program that have a broad degree of utilization globally are ‘Tifblue’, ‘Climax’, and ‘Brightwell’. These cultivars were compared for several years in south Georgia to ‘Austin’, ‘Alapaha’ (pronounced uh-la-puh-HAH), and ‘Ochlockonee’ (pronounced ok-LAHK-uh-nee), which are new releases from the program. For the early rabbiteye season, ‘Climax’ has been the standard, although freeze damage often plagues this cultivar and reduces yield. In tests over a 5 year period, ‘Alapaha’ ripened with ‘Climax’, but flowered 7 to 10 days later, thus escaping some freeze damage. ‘Alapaha’ yields averaged 6.0 kg/plant, compared to only 3.1 kg/plant for ‘Climax’. For the mid-season, ‘Brightwell’ has been the standard, and it is a very reliable cultivar. In these trials, both ‘Austin’ and ‘Brightwell’ averaged yields of ca. 6.0 kg/plant, but ‘Austin’ ripened 5 to 8 days earlier than ‘Brightwell’, and generally berry size for ‘Austin’ was 20% larger than for ‘Brightwell’. For late season production, ‘Tifblue’ has been widely used for many years. In tests comparing ‘Ochlockonee’ to ‘Tifblue’, the newer cultivar yielded 8.1 kg/plant versus only 4.3 kg/plant for the older cultivar over a multi-year period in south Georgia. ‘Ochlockonee’ flowered 3 to 4 days after ‘Tifblue’, and ripened ca. 1 week later. ‘Ochlockonee’ berry size averaged 35% greater than ‘Tifblue’. All of the cultivars (new and old) are suitable for mechanical harvesting, and have good berry quality such as color, scar, firmness, and flavor. | |
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