Genotype, Environment, Year, and Harvest Effects on Fruit Quality Traits of Five Blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum L.) Cultivars

Lauren E Redpath,Marcia Gumpertz,Hamid Ashrafi,James R Ballington,Nahla Bassil

doi:10.3390/agronomy11091788

Lauren E Redpath, Marcia Gumpertz + Show 3 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy11091788

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Abstract

Blueberries (Vaccinium spp.) comprise a broad range of perennial woody species. Introgression of native species into cultivated germplasm has adapted Vaccinium germplasm to a range of climates and growing conditions for cultivated blueberry. Genetic differences signify phenotypic variance that is observed among blueberry accessions. In addition, variability in geographic and climatic growing conditions between environments or within the same environment across different years may further affect fruit and plant phenotypic expression. As a result, a phenotype is a function of genetic background (G), environment (E), and their interaction (G × E). In addition, other temporally regulated factors such as year (Y) and harvest time (H) impact plant and fruit quality phenotypic variation. Our research aimed to assess the genotypic performance of five blueberry cultivars, including ‘Echota’, ‘O’Neal’, ‘Reveille’, ‘Summit’, and ‘Sunrise’. The selected cultivars were phenotyped for various fruit quality-related traits over two sequential harvests in two years and two locations. Our results indicated that genotype was a significant source of variation for most phenotypic characteristics. Further, the effect of Y × H and G × Y × H significantly affected the majority of studied phenotypic traits. Within the studied genotypes, ‘Reveille’ and ‘O’Neal’ phenotypic stability were consistent across locations and years; additionally, ‘Summit’ phenotypic characteristics were stable across years, environments, and harvests. Clonal plant replicates within a genotype, harvest, and environment, in addition to individual fruit measures, were the most significant sources of variability.

Highlights

Within North America, the geographic range of native Vaccinium species ranges fromCanada through Mexico, encompassing a broad spectrum of different climatic growing conditions
Model 1 was used for nine phenotypic traits that used individual fruit measurements, including Fruit weight (FW), polar diameter (PD), equatorial diameter (ED), roundness index (RI), FRM, absolute positive force (APF), distance at positive force (DPF), force at target (FT), and fruit elasticity (FE)
After taking measures for FW, PD, ED, RI, FRM, APF, DPF, FT, and FE, the ten fruit were homogenized into a fruit purée for quantitative measurement of the five phenotypic traits analyzed using model 2

Summary

Introduction

Within North America, the geographic range of native Vaccinium species ranges fromCanada through Mexico, encompassing a broad spectrum of different climatic growing conditions. Within North America, the geographic range of native Vaccinium species ranges from. In the southeastern United States, select native Vaccinium species including. Introgression of native species into cultivated germplasm has adapted Vaccinium germplasm to a range of climates and growing conditions for cultivated blueberry, resulting in both low-chill and high-chill adapted cultivars [1,2]). Breeding for low-chill and high-chill cultivation has enabled blueberry production expansion, increasing the geographic range and facilitating fresh market availability year-round due to longer production windows across regions. Variability in geographic and climatic growing conditions between environments may further affect fruit and plant phenotypic expression. ‘Brightwell’ (V. virgatum) grown in higher altitude environments reported increased total soluble solids (TSS), flavonoids, phenols, proanthocyanidins, and anthocyanins in China [4]

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