Horticultural/Post Harvest Research

As a support scientist and Dr. Spiers’s technician for 10 years, I have worked very closely with his horticultural aspects of blueberries and other small fruits.  I plan to continue working with all aspects of cultural practices as well as work with the post-harvest aspect of the fruits.

Presently we are working on a wild blueberry collection and analysis.   We have collected leaves and fruit from 5-7 species of wild blueberries from across south Mississippi.   The leaves were used for ploidy analysis; the fruit are analyzed for a variety of factors including anthocyanin content.  Seeds are collected and a wild species planting is in development.

I am interested in the problem of splitting in blueberries.   Several common, standard varieties have very good production, but split if rain occurs at or just before harvest.   I am working to determine the physiological and morphological differences that contribute to the splitting susceptibility as well as develop cultural practices that will reduce the splitting at harvest.   This research has involved chemical analysis of the fruit for pectin fractions and other cell wall components, and a histological survey of the fruit and water uptake measures.

I work closely with the geneticist on storage studies and fruit analysis of blueberry selections.   Together, our research will ensure the blueberries cultivars released from this station are superior plants and fruit.