Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: June 30, 1999
Publication Date: N/A
Technical Abstract:
Self and cross fertility were evaluated in the highbush blueberry cultivars, 'Bluegold', 'Duke', 'Legacy', 'Nelson', 'Sierra', 'Sunrise', and 'Toro', all released since 1987, by comparing them to standards of 'Bluecrop' and 'Rubel'. Percent fruit set increased with cross-pollination in all cultivars except 'Bluecrop' which decreased by 13%. The average increase in the recently released cultivars was 43%. Fruit weight also increased in cross-pollinations for all cultivars except 'Rubel' which showed a decrease of 2%. Average increase in fruit weight on cross-pollination in the recently released cultivars was 27%. Fruit set and fruit weight measurements suggest that 'Duke', 'Legacy', and 'Nelson' could perform well in solid stands, but 'Sierra' and 'Toro' are more likely to need cross-pollination for best yields. Investigations were also made on a group of 10 cultivars, to evaluate whether ripening time of the pollen source cultivar had any effect on the ripening time of the fruiting parent. No single pollen source had consistent general effects on ripening, although specific combinations of females and males appeared to either hasten or delay ripening. The largest deviations were seen in delays of ripening, suggesting that poor pollination may have been the greatest factor contributing to the observed variation in ripening times.
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