‘Pearl’ Southern Highbush Blueberry

Figures & data

TABLE 1 Ratings of Fruit and Plant Characteristics of Pearl, Two Southern Highbush (O'Neal and Star), and Two Rabbiteye (Climax and Premier) Standard Cultivars over a 6-Year Period (2005 through 2010) at Wiggins, Mississippi ^z

	Cultivar
Berry and plant attributes ^z	Pearl	O'Neal	Star	Climax	Premier
Berry size	8.4 a ^y	7.2 b	7.1 b	7.4 b	7.2 b
Berry color	8.2 a	7.5 b	7.8 ab	8.0 a	7.8 ab
Berry firmness	8.1 a	7.4 b	7.6 ab	8.0 a	7.4 ab
Berry scar	8.2	8.2	7.9	7.9	7.9
Berry flavor	7.8	7.7	7.8	7.9	8.2
Productivity	7.3 ab	5.8 c	6.7 b	8.3 a	8.1 a
Plant vigor	7.4 ab	6.7 c	7.5 ab	8.4 a	8.0 a
Date of 50% bloom	March 23	March 14	March 11	March 16	March 21
Date of 50% ripe	May 29	May 22	May 19	June 14	June 22
^zRatings are based on subjective scores ranging from 1 to 10, with 1 being the least desirable and 10 being the most desirable. A value of 6 to 7 is considered to be the minimum acceptable rating for a commercial blueberry cultivar.
^yMeans within rows separated by Duncan's multiple range test, 5% significance level.