Volume 51 Number 3 Article 26
Year 1997 Month 7
Title: Blueberry Breeding for the Southern United States
Author: A.D. Draper
Abstract:
The USDA blueberry breeding program was initiated in 1910 by Dr.
F.V. Coville and has been continuous since that time.
Plant breeders Drs.
G.M. Darrow, D.H. Scott, J.N. Moore and I have worked with state
agricultural experiment stations (SAES) and private growers to develop the majority of cultivars presently
grown for commercial production.
In the South, major cooperators with the USDA include SAES in
Arkansas, North Carolina, Georgia, and Texas.
Recently the USDA Small Fruits Station at Poplarville, Miss,
has been instrumental in blueberry cultivar development for the South.
Rabbiteye (Vaccinium ashei Reade)
blueberry cultivars make up the majority of blueberry acreage grown in the South.
A new type of blueberry,
the southern highbush (SHB), has been developed by intraspecific hybridization with various Vaccinium
species.
Late-blooming SHB cultivars have been developed that offer better protection from spring frosts and
ripen earlier than the earliest rabbiteye blueberry.
Genes required to meet future needs reside within native
Vaccinium species.
Progress has been made in plant adaptation, disease resistance, fruit quality, and season
of ripening.
There remains a need for greater plant vigor, insect resistance and consistent production.
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