Developing Seed-propagated Lowbush Blueberry Families

Abstract

The benefits of lowbush blueberry seedlings over clonally propagated plants, in terms of improved plant performance and low cost per plant, led to the establishment of a trial of 42 seedling families in 1990. The purpose of this trial was to identify hybrid seed that produces plants that are high yielding and of good fruit quality. Considering berry yield and quality, seedling families KBF-7, KBF-10, KBF-13, and KBF-42 were identified as top performers. All of these have ‘Fundy’ as one parent. KBF-7 is well suited to producing blueberries for marketing as high-quality fresh fruit. KBF-10 spreads well by rhizomes and may be suited as fill-in plants for bare areas in commercial lowbush blueberry fields.