Evaluation and Inheritance of Fruit Color, Size, Scar, Firmness and Plant Vigor in Blueberry1

Abstract

Abstract Repeatability of scoring and inheritance of 5 characters were studied in highbush type blueberry progenies in 2 years. In the repeatability study, fruit size, scar and plant vigor scores were more consistent than fruit firmness and color. Plant vigor scores were high and fruit scar scores were low both years. In the inheritance study, cultivars ranked similarly for each character by either their phenotypic score or general combining ability effects. Mean square variances of general combining ability were larger than specific combining ability for fruit size, firmness, color and plant vigor. Mean square variance of specific combining ability was high for fruit scar. Heritability estimates for blueberry were high for fruit size, moderate for fruit color, low for fruit firmness and scar and lower for plant vigor.