Blueberry Varieties, Where Are We Now?
Morocco Berry Conference
Jesús Morales Huerta
November 10, 2022
Outline
• Blueberry Taxonomy
• Status of the Industry
• Breeding History
• Breeding Today
Blueberries, taxonomy
Fruit produced by species of the section Cyanococcus,
belonging to the genus Vaccinium
Hancock et al. 2009
Status of the industry
Total production (MT) during the last 60 years (1961-2020).
1000
TONS X 1000
800
600
400
200
0
1961
1966
1971
1976
1981
1986
1991
1996
2001
2006
2011
2016
Data: Faostat, 2022.
Status of the industry
TOP-10 COUNTRIES FOR FRESH PRODUCTION (MT)
2018 Fresh Production 2021 Fresh Production
243
208
177
137
135
123
83
79
68
68
55
53
48
37
35
33
29
24
24
10
MOROCCO
CHINA
CHILE
PERU
USA
SPAIN
POLAND
RSA
MEXICO
CANADA
Data: IBO, 2022
Status of the industry
EVOLUTION OF THE PRODUCTION BY CHILL PROGRAM FROM 2018 –
2021 CONSIDERING THE TOP-10 COUNTRIES
664
386
336
284
MID/HIGH ZERO/LOW
2018 Fresh Production 2021 Fresh Production
Data: IBO, 2022
Breeding history
• Frederick Coville (USDA) and Elizabeth White: 1908
• Outstanding wild clones from V. corymbosum & V.
angustifolium = the first commercial crops.
• 1910: Requirement for acid soils and “Chill hours” identified.
• 1910-1940: First bred varieties released
• Bluecrop, Jersey, Weymouth, Blueray, Rubel, Berkeley.
• George Darrow (USDA): 1938-1958
• Arlen Draper (USDA): 1965 – 2010
• Jim Hancock (MSU): 1979 – Present
• Wayne Sherman (UF): 1970-1978
• Paul Lyrene (UF): 1978 – Present
• Jim Olmstead: 2009-2016
• Patricio Muñoz (2019-Present)
Breeding for Low / Zero Chill
Northern Highbush Wild species Southern Highbush
V. corymbosum V. darrowii V. corymbosum x V. darrowii
Chris Evans, University of Illinois, Bugwood.org
Changes in the global production regions
1990
2022
2015
Main traits for selection
● Increasing the threshold for potential yields
– Plant architecture
– Seasonality
– Concentration
– Total yield
● Improving the eating experience
● Varieties adapted to challenging environments
Main traits for selection
Sugar/Acid Ratio
● Increasing the threshold for potential
yields AtlasBlue® 'FCM12-045' 0.30
● Improving the eating experience
– Flavor: TSS (° Brix), Acidity
AzraBlue™ 'FCM14-031' 0.18
● Aroma
● Texture: “Crunchy”, “Crispy”
● Firmness
● Fruit size BiancaBlue® 'FCM12-087' 0.48
● Shelf-life
● Bloom
● Scar Biloxi 0.19
● Varieties adapted to challenging
environments
Main traits for selection
● Increasing the threshold for potential yields
● Improving the eating experience
● Varieties adapted to challenging
environments
– New pests and diseases
– High EC tolerance / pH adaptability
– Pollination requirements
– Climate change
Luedeling et al., 2011
Main Challenges by Chill Requirements
Mid / High Chill Low / Zero Chill
Optimize Production Cost Jumbo Fruit Size
Concentrated Harvest Concentrated Production
Mechanical Harvest Increasing Harvest Efficiency
Reduced Juvenility
Increased Shelf Life
Trends in breeding
● New market niches
– Unique flavors
– Unusual shapes
– Jumbo sizes
● Genomic-based selection
– Autopolyploid species: 2X = 24, 4X = 48, 6X = 72.
– Tools publicly available
● Blueberry Genome Database
● Prediction has shown lower heritability and CV
● Phenomics and artificial intelligence
● Gene editing, GMO?
Rowland et al., 2011; Hancock et al., 2008; Amadeu et al., 2021; Cappai et al. 2020; Cabezas et al. 2019.
Fall Creek
● Founded in 1978 in the USA
● Family business with 2 active generations
● More than 150 nursery acres in production
● Nurseries and Research Centers in US,
Mexico, Peru, Spain, Netherlands and South
Africa
● + 35 M blueberry plants produced annually
● Breeding programs for all chill levels
and production systems
Fall Creek - Worldwide Trial Locations
Varieties adapted to different environments - Zero / Low Chill
AtlasBlue® Sekoya Pop®
● Grower’s friendly variety ● Crunchy
● High Productivity ● Large / Jumbo Fruit Size
● Low Acidity ● High Productivity (+ 6 kg / plant)
● Large Fruit ● Open Plant Architecture
● Late Season Variety ● Seasonality Responsive by Pruning
Varieties adapted to different environments - Mid / High Chill
ArabellaBlue® PeachyBlue®
● High Productivity ● Mid-season
● Mid-season ● Medium size
● Grower’s Friendly ● Unique flavor and aromas
● Vigorous ● Adapted to Mid and High Chill
Take away messages
●The best variety is the one adapted
to the environment and production
system of each grower
– There is no unique solution
globally
●Production should be tightly
connected with market demands
●Superior new varieties currently
available
●Blueberry breeders will continue to
develop superior new varieties to
help growers conquer the unknown
Thanks
Go Blueberries!!
jesusm@fallcreeknursery.com
https://www.fallcreeknursery.com/
References
● Luedeling E, Girvetz EH, Semenov MA, Brown PH (2011) Climate Change Affects Winter Chill for Temperate Fruit and Nut Trees.
PLoS ONE 6(5): e20155. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0020155.
● Rowland LJ, Hancock JF, Bassil NV (2011) Blueberry in Genetics, Genomics and Breeding of Berries.
● Hancock, J.F., Lyrene, P., Finn, C.E., Vorsa, N. & Lobos, G.A (2008) Blueberries and cranberries, p. 115–150. In: J.F. Hancock
(ed.). Temperate fruit crop breeding: Germplasm to genomics. Springer, New York, NY.
● Hancock J (2009) Highbush blueberry breeding. Latvian Journal of Agronomy 12:35.
● Rodrigo R Amadeu, Patricio R Muñoz, Chaozhi Zheng, Jeffrey B Endelman, QTL mapping in outbred tetraploid (and
diploid) diallel populations, Genetics, Volume 219, Issue 3, November 2021,
iyab124, https://doi.org/10.1093/genetics/iyab124
● Cappai F, Amadeu RR, Benevenuto J, Cullen R, Garcia A, Grossman A, Ferrão LFV and Munoz P (2020) High-Resolution
Linkage Map and QTL Analyses of Fruit Firmness in Autotetraploid Blueberry. Front. Plant Sci. 11:562171. doi:
10.3389/fpls.2020.562171.
● Cabezas, D.; de Bem Oliveira, I.; Acker, M.; Lyrene, P.; Munoz, P.R. Evaluating Wild Germplasm Introgression into
Autotetraploid Blueberry. Agronomy 2021, 11, 614. DOI: 10.3390/agronomy11040614.
