Research Update: Rabbiteye Blueberry Cultivars with Improved Qualities

Jun 09, 2022

Blueberries are a high-value fruit crop that is becoming increasingly popular worldwide. Alabama’s blueberry acreage has tripled in the last decade. Proper cultivar selection is one of the first, and perhaps the most, important decision a grower can make when planting blueberries. Among the first things to consider are the intended market, the proper marketing strategy, local climate, cultivar season of ripening, berry quality, and the method of harvest. These factors will determine the desired vegetative, flowering, and fruiting characteristics of the blueberry cultivars to consider for the operation.

The University of Georgia blueberry breeding program has recently released two early season, large-fruited rabbiteye blueberry cultivars named Krewer (figure 1) and Titan (figure 2). Other new blueberry cultivars, include the USDA developed Pink Lemonade (figure 3), which possess unique pink fruit color and attractive appearance. Research is currently being done on these cultivars and others to test their vegetative growth and cropping potential in Alabama conditions.

Figure 1. Ripening berries of the early-season cultivar, Krewer

Figure 1. Ripening berries of the early-season cultivar, Krewer.

Figure 2. Ripening berries of the early-season cultivar, Titan

Figure 3. Ripening berries of Pink Lemonade cultivar.

2021 Research Update

Selected rabbiteye blueberry cultivars were planted in a research setting at the Chilton Research and Extension Center in 2019 to evaluate their productivity and assess each cultivar’s fruit quality under central Alabama growing conditions. In addition to Titan, Krewer, and Pink Lemonade, the study also includes the early-ripening cultivars Alapaha, Climax, Vernon, and Premier and the late-season cultivars Powderblue, Tifblue, and Oclockonee. Data collection and measurements include blooming season, cold hardiness, crop load, season of maturity, fruit quality, and pest resistance.

In 2021, total yield per plant was the highest for the Ochlockonee blueberry, averaging 8.3 pounds per plant (table 1). Tifblue and Powderblue also had a good crop of 7.3 pounds per plant, followed by Krewer with 5.9 pounds per plant. The yield of Titan and Pink Lemonade was 1.0 and 0.9 pounds per plant respectively. Krewer produced the largest berry size of 2.8 grams on average, followed by Titan with an average berry size of 2.5 grams.

The berry sweetness for all of the studied cultivars except Titan was lower in 2021 (table 2.) possibly due to the frequent rain events in the summer. Titan bushes grew a relatively low number of berries, which allowed the fruit to accumulate more sugars due to the reduced competition.

Table 1. Total Yield Per Plant of Selected Blueberry Cultivars, 2021

Cultivar	Yield
Ochlockonee	8.6
Tifblue	7.3
Powderblue	7.3
Krewer	5.9
Alapaha	5.6
Vernon	4.2
Premier	3.9
Climax	3.5
Titan	1.0
Pink Lemonade	0.9

Table 2. Soluble Solids Content of Selected Blueberry Cultivars

Cultivar	Brix, %, 2020	Brix, %, 2021
Ochlockonee	13.1	11.7
Vernon	13.0	11.4
Krewer	13.2	12.0
Powderblue	12.7	11.6
Climax	13.6	11.1
Titan	12.0	12.3
Alapaha	13.1	12.5
Premier	13.3	12.5
Tifblue	13.8	12.6
Pink Lemonade	12.8	11.9

Source : aces.edu

Video: From Students to Solutions | On The Brink: Season 2, Episode 14

Ask Canada’s most decorated soybean breeder his favourite part of the job and he doesn’t name a single variety. He names the students.

Istvan Rajcan is a professor of soybean breeding and genetics in the Department of Plant Agriculture at the University of Guelph, where he has run the soybean breeding program for 28 and a half years. In that time he has developed 87 soybean cultivars, published 140 refereed papers and trained 51 graduate students. In 2025 he received the Public Sector Impact Award from the National Association for Plant Breeding.

He is also worried. In this episode he says Canada is at a crossroads, pointing to recent government cuts to plant breeding programs and to the facilities that support them. His prescription is structural. "Plant breeding funding formula has to be a long-term one," he says.

The formula he is defending is the public-private matching arrangement his program runs on. Private seed companies fund the work, provincial or federal money matches it, and the combined pool stretches each dollar further than either source could alone. At the National Association for Plant Breeding annual meeting in June, he says American public breeders were often surprised at how well that collaboration works in Canada.

He also describes how the people entering plant breeding have changed. His early graduate students came mostly from farms. More recently they include, in his words, "city kids who just became excited about genetics."

Topics covered:

Why public-private plant breeding funding in Canada needs a long-term

commitment rather than a larger one

How matching private seed company investment with provincial and federal

dollars multiplies research capacity

How the graduate student pipeline into plant breeding has shifted from

farm kids to city kids