Cultivar Traits and Characteristics for Mechanical Harvest for Fresh Markets and Progress in Southern Highbush Breeding

James OlmsteadIn-Service Training – May 13, 2014

Estimated Net Return ($/plant)

Kim Morgan – Va. Tech. Univ.

• Fresh or Process? Does it matter?

• What can we learn from current cultivars that don’t work well?

• MFF is not necessarily a new idea

• Probably more happening than we know about

Machine Harvest for Fresh Market (MFF)

• Early ripening, ≈9 days before ‘Star’

• Darker berry color, lower firmness

• Vigorous, upright growth habit, excellent field survival

‘Springhigh’(USPP # 16,404 )

• Harvest frequently or packing and postharvest problems – wet scar

• Low chill requirement

• Vigorous, spreading bush

• Tight clusters

• High yield potential

‘Emerald’(USPP # 12,165 )

• Long harvest period

• Large fruit size, good quality

Some Trait Priorities Don’t Change

• Maturity season

• Disease tolerance

• Fruit quality• Small, dry stem scar• Large size• Blue color• High firmness / crisp• Good sugar/acid ratio

• High yield

Architecture

• Good anchorage, upright, narrow base, not too dense

00.25 0.5

0.750000000000002 11.25 1.5

1.75 22.25 2.5

2.75 33.25 3.5

3.75 44.25 4.5

4.7505

1015202530

Bin

Freq

uenc

y

Southern Belle = 1.34F1 = 1.14

Architecture• Sparkleberry (V. arboreum) introgression

H.P. Rodriguez-Armenta – UF

Architecture

• Must consider harvester technology

• Often horticultural manipulations (pruning, training, trellis, etc.) can be effectively utilized

Harvest Timing• Even, condensed

maturity period

• Fruit holding ability on bush

Harvest Timing

Total pounds/week for 5 bushes (3-yr old planting)

Week of Year FL06-377 FL05-619 Jewel5 0.60 0.00 0.006 0.00 0.00 0.007 0.24 0.00 0.008 0.18 0.00 0.009 0.00 0.00 0.00

10 0.73 0.01 0.0011 0.55 0.01 0.0012 1.10 0.09 0.0013 0.75 0.20 0.0014 0.86 1.10 1.1415 0.96 1.71 1.6916 0.54 1.59 3.3417 0.69 1.29 0.9018 0.84 2.31 1.7419 0.28 0.68 0.18

Total (Pound/bush) 8.32 8.99 8.99Pound/acre (1800 plants) 14,900 16,100 16,100

Clusters

• Loose clusters are desirable

• Initial hand harvest will break up clusters for later machine harvest

Emerald Meadowlark

Detachment

• Low detachment force for mature blue fruit

Scar

• Small, dry stem scar

Rachel Itle – UF

Stems

• No stem retention

• Process lines have equipment for de-stemming

Color

• Full color – no green or red on stem end

• Heavy wax or bloom

Firmness

• High firmness

• Crisp fruit

Crisp Blueberry Texture

• Very firm, crunchy texture in select SHB cultivars (Indigocrisp, Bluecrisp, Sweetcrisp, Reveille, Dolores)– Holding ability on bush– Reduced bruising during machine harvest (Takeda

et al., 2013)– Increased postharvest longevity (Mehra et al.,

2013)

Texture Evaluations

Blaker et al., 2014

Segregation for Crisp Texture

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Mean Sensory Score

% S

ee

dli

ng

s i

n F

1 P

op

ula

tio

n

Sweetcrisp x FL 02-22 FL 98-325 x FL 02-22 FL 98-325 x FL 97-136

FL 03-161 x FL 98-325 FL 98-325 x Sweetcrisp

Kendra Blaker – UF

Trialing

MFF Comparison

Jeff Williamson – UF

MFF Comparison

• 100 MFF candidates identified and segregated by chill requirement. Trials in NC, GA, and FL

• 200 crisp selections identified for trialing in Florida and Georgia

Breeding for MFF

• Variation available for many important machine harvest traits

• Can we make adequate breeding progress by only machine harvesting at late stages of selection?

• The best picking strategy may be a combined hand harvest/machine harvest if labor is available.

• Interdisciplinary team required

Dr. Jim OlmsteadUF-IFAS Horticultural Sciences Dept.

2211 Fifield HallGainesville, FL 32611

(352) 273-4837http://www.hos.ufl.edu/faculty/jwolmstead