BREEDING BLUEBERRIES FOR THE NEW CENTURY

Development of blueberry cultivars for the next century lies in two areas, 1) improvement of desired characters in mainline germplasm, such as improved disease resistance, improved quality, and improved yield, and 2) expansion of the range of trait expression and the generation and incorporation of novel characteristics. In this latter category fall traits such as extreme earliness, extreme lateness, fall flowering, parthenocarpy, soil adaptation, and new fruit types. The USDA program also works with adapted germplasm and unadapted species germplasm to evaluate their ability to contribute useful characteristics. This presentation will highlight materials being used in the USDA breeding program and strategies for combining them.