Study on adaptability of blueberry cultivars in center south Europe

The European countries have significantly different climates, growing conditions and consumer requirements for berry fruit. The increased demand of blueberry fruit and the consequent cultivation areas is limited by the reduced adaptability of cultivars to different soils and climates. The present study describes the field evaluation of nineteen Vaccinium genotypes (cultivars and selections). The combination of genotypes includes commercial varieties (cultivars) and new breeding lines (selections) released by the New Zealand Institute for Plant & Food Research Ltd. breeding program. For all the genotypes data were collected for two years (2012 and 2013) and included: total plant yield, fruit size, soluble solid content, titratable acidity and phytochemical compounds. Results from this study have demonstrated that none of the genotypes had the best of all traits, however, some adapted to the growing conditions and climat