How are blueberry seedlings cultivated?

Blueberry is a very popular fruit nowadays. Blueberry fruit is rich in various vitamins, has strong medicinal value and nutritional health functions, and its cultivation has high economic benefits. So how are blueberry seedlings cultivated? Let’s learn more about it below.

1. Seedling cultivation method

The main methods of blueberry seedling cultivation include cutting seedling cultivation, seed propagation seedling cultivation and tissue culture rapid propagation seedling cultivation. However, cutting seed propagation and seed propagation have disadvantages such as low survival rate, small reproduction coefficient, long cycle and seasonal restrictions. They cannot be used for year-round seedling cultivation and cannot meet market demand. Tissue culture rapid propagation seedling cultivation can produce a large number of healthy seedlings in a short period of time. Therefore, blueberry tissue culture rapid propagation has become the most widely used seedling production method.

2. Tissue culture seedlings

The blueberry tissue culture seedlings can be divided into the steps of explant treatment, test tube seedling cultivation, and plug tray seedling cultivation.

3. Explant treatment

First, we need to select appropriate explants. Explants should be collected in spring and autumn when blueberries are growing vigorously. Select vigorous and strong new branches of the year from healthy plants with typical characteristics of the variety, and take tender stem segments with terminal buds as explants. The culture medium uses modified WPM as the basic culture medium to facilitate rapid induction of budding.

4. Cultivation of test tube seedlings

Through primary induction culture, subculture and value-added culture, rooting and seedling culture, and after 25 to 30 days of rapid growth, the test tube seedlings can grow to 6 to 8 cm in height, and each plant will develop 3 to 5 new roots with a length of 1 to 2 cm.

5. Plug tray

The tube seedlings are transplanted into plug trays, and after a period of cultivation, blueberry tissue culture plug tray seedlings are formed. The substrate in the hole tray is made of moss and peat in a ratio of 3:1. It is required to have a certain degree of fertility, be loose and breathable, and the pH of the substrate should be between 4.5 and 5.5. The plug tray seedlings are then cultivated into qualified blueberry seedlings through hardening, transplanting and post-transplantation management.

That’s it