Comparative study on texture: A key for blueberry quality breeding

Authors: GIONGO, LARA - Fondazione Edmund Mach; AJELLI, MATTEO - Fondazione Edmund Mach; POTTORFF, M - North Carolina State University; COE, KEVIN - North Carolina State University; PERKINS-VEAZIE, PENELOPE - North Carolina State University; Bassil, Nahla; HUMMER, KIM - Retired ARS Employee; FARNETI, B - Fondazione Edmund Mach; IORIZZO, MASSIMO - North Carolina State University

Submitted to: Acta Horticulturae
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 8/30/2021
Publication Date: 1/31/2023
Citation: Giongo, L., Ajelli, M., Pottorff, M., Coe, K., Perkins-Veazie, P., Bassil, N.V., Hummer, K.E., Farneti, B., Iorizzo, M. 2023. Comparative study on texture: A key for blueberry quality breeding. Acta Horticulturae. 1357:107-114. https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2023.1357.16.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2023.1357.16

Interpretive Summary: The consumption of blueberries has increased rapidly in the last decade, which has expanded blueberry production to new environments, requiring shipment of fruit worldwide. Thus, the industry is facing new challenges with consumers are demanding better quality fruit year round. For consumers, better quality blueberries must have an attractive appearance, a good texture, and a pleasant flavour. A prolonged shelf life, from fruit harvest to retail, is an additional requirement for a blueberry cultivar. Thus, fruit texture is one of the most critical parameters of fruit quality in blueberry and must be fine-tuned to provide the industry with a standard phenotyping methodology. To standardize the method for testing blueberry, two different equipments were compared in different cultivars. The accuracy and discriminative power of texture analysis over cultivars and selections in different locations was confirmed and the phenotypic variance reflected the environmental differences of the three locations.

Technical Abstract: The consumption of blueberries has increased rapidly in the last decade, which has expanded blueberry production to new cultivation environments, requiring the shipment of fruit worldwide. Thus, the industry is facing new challenges with consumers demanding better quality fruit year round. For consumers, better quality blueberries must have an attractive appearance, a good texture, and a pleasant flavour. A prolonged shelf life, from fruit harvest to retail, is an additional requirement for a blueberry cultivar. Thus, fruit texture is one of the most critical parameters of fruit quality in blueberry starting from breeding and must be fine-tuned to provide the industry with a standard phenotyping methodology. To standardize the method for testing blueberry, two different texture analyzer equipments were used on different cultivars. Destructive penetration tests with flat cylindrical probes were used to determine whether fruit texture is cultivar-dependent, and or related to fruit anatomical patterns. The accuracy and discriminative power of texture analysis over cultivars and selections in different locations was confirmed and the phenotypic variance reflected the environmental differences of the three locations.