Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
atic on certain cultivars of blackcurrant. Additionally, breeders are developing new
blackcurrant cultivars with resistance to white pine blister rust, mainly based on
the
Cr
resistance gene from
R. ussuriense
, as this may increase the acceptability of
blackcurrant production in North America.
Blueberries
Introduction
Blueberries are members of the Ericaceae family, within the genus
Vaccinium
in
the Cyanococcus section. The genus includes approximately 400 species, and the
Cyanococcus section comprises some 10 to 26 species, depending on the taxonomic
classification used (Ballington
1990
) (Table
9.2
).
Commercial orchards exist of highbush (
V. corymbosum
L.) and rabbiteye blue-
berries (
V
. ashei Reade syn.
V
.
virgatum
Ait.), whereas the lowbush blueberries
(
V. angustifolium
Ait.) are only handled in a semi-domesticated way. Highbush
blueberries are further sub-divided, depending on their winter hardiness and chilling
requirements, into northern, southern or intermediate types. Highbush blueberries
are the types most extensively planted world-wide, and are found in, amongst others,
USA, Canada, Chile, Argentina, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Japan and
China, as well as in several European countries (Strik
2005
; Strik and Yarborough
2005
). Since the start of the millennium there has been a remarkable increase in the
planted area of blueberries on a world-wide level (2003-2008 = + 250 %); the larg-
est increases between 2003 and 2008 were in China (2,230 %), Argentina (529 %),
Chile (429 %) and Spain/Portugal (363 %). Worldwide acreage is now led by the
USA (38,871), Chile (11,300) and Argentina (4,470) (Retamales and Hancock
2012
).
Genetic Resources and Breeding
The breeding of blueberries is a relatively recent activity, although many of the
wild species of blueberries were harvested for hundreds of years in their original
habitats by the native North Americans (Moerman
1998
). In 1893 Elizabeth
White started the culture of blueberries in Whitesbog (NJ) and, in collaboration
with Frederick Coville of the USDA (at the beginning of the twentieth century),
collected clones of highbush and lowbush blueberries (mainly
V. angustifolium
).
This led to the first hybrid being released in 1908 (Hancock et al.
2008
).
Coville was followed by George Darrow, who, in parallel with his other work,
began to collaborate in the 50's with Ralph Sharp (Florida). Sharp himself, in
collaboration with Wayne Sherman, released the first successful varieties of
Southern highbush (Lyrene
1998
). In parallel, by the end of 30's, Darrow, Otis
Woodard and Emmett Morrow initiated the work with rabbiteye blueberries (
V.
ashei
) (Hancock et al.
2008
).
