Performance of Rabbiteye Blueberry (Vaccinium ashei) Cultivars In North Alabama

An experimental plot was established at the North Alabama Research Horticulture Center, Cullman in December of 2006 to evaluate the performance of twelve rabbiteye (Vaccinium ashei) cultivars in North Alabama’s environment. Six well established rabbiteye cultivars including Brightwell, Tifblue, Powderblue, Baldwin, Premier, and Climax, as well as six newly released cultivars, namely Alapaha, Ochlocknonee, Montgomery, Ira, Onslow, and Yadkin were compared in the present study. The overall objective of this study is to investigate the vegetative growth and the cropping potential of an array of rabbiteye cultivars. Data were collected to evaluate and characterize fruit quality traits of the selected cultivars. The results from our study suggest that rabbiteye cultivars Montgomery, Climax, Premier, and Alapaha had an early ripening season, whereas Onslow, Yadkin, and Ira fruit ripened late in the season. Baldwin, Premier, and Tifblue had the largest berries with an average berry weight of 1.7 g, while Montgomery and Brightwell had the smallest berries of 1.2 g in 2008. Our data suggest that Alapaha, Brightwell, and Montgomery berries had soluble solids above 17.0%, while the sugar content of Tifblue was 14.5%. Alapaha blueberry produced the highest yield of 3.9 kg/bush in 2008, followed by Tifblue, Yadkin, Ira, and Onslow with an average yield of over 2.7 kg/bush.