Abstract

In recent years, South American commercial blueberry production has gone through important changes imposed by a larger offer of fresh fruit from the main producers, thus leading to drastic price reductions during main harvest season, from December to February. One alternative solution to this situation is to grow early or late fruit ripening varieties, harvested at the beginning or at the end of the harvest period. In 2010 new blueberry varieties with low winter chilling requirements were introduced to Brazil, which were developed by the University of Florida and may be planted under hot weather conditions, showing earlier fruit bearing when compared to the traditional varieties grown in Brazil so far. Those low chilling requirement blueberries have an undeniable potential for early fruit production in hot regions with no chill hours during winter, with increased crop profitability to growers. For an adequate establishment of these varieties in Brazil, crop management strategies should be validated in regions with no chill hours, due to the lack of technical information on blueberry crop under such particular conditions. First field trials with early-bearing blueberry varieties are currently being conducted in the State of Sao Paulo for evaluating plant growth and fruit yield and quality under no chilling incidence, being these exceptional conditions met by few countries in the world.