Analysis of environmental factors to induce continuous fruits after fall blooming for development of off-season production in blueberry

2015 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 24380018
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)
• Allocation Type: Partial Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Horticulture/Landscape architecture
• Research Institution: Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology
• Principal Investigator: OGIWARA Isao 東京農工大学, (連合)農学研究科(研究院), 教授 (80204113)
• Project Period (FY): 2012-04-01 – 2016-03-31
• Keywords: ブルーベリー / 開花生理 / 連続開花 / 四季成り / 植物工場 / 環境制御 / 概日リズム / 短日

Outline of Final Research Achievements

To establish the continuous production system for off-season blueberry, analysis of environmental factors to induce continuous fruits after blooming in fall was carried out and off-season production system was developed. Only SHB type such as 'Sharpblue' with low dormancy, evergreen and early flower bud formation habits showed the phenomenon of continuous flowering and fruiting after blooming in fall. Environmental conditions inducing continuous flowering and fruiting were temperatures (26°C) during light period and (12 ℃) during dark period, 8h photoperiod, light intensity (300-500μmol/m2/s) in closed room with artificial light. The blooming began in September when trees were placed in closed room from July and fruits could be harvested from December. Flowering and fruiting continued year-round and high quality fruits could be harvested with high SSC %, high anthocyanin and low acid %. It is possible to establish a new cultivation system for year-round, high yield blueberry.

Free Research Field

園芸学