This new and updated edition of a highly successful practical book covers major topics of interest to blueberry breeders and researchers including: breeding, varieties, botany, physiology, nutrition, growth regulation, cultivation methods and practices, photosynthesis, plant interaction with the environment, weeds, pests, diseases and postharvest management. The focus is on the highbush blueberry, though information on other blueberries and related species is also provided.
Blueberries are cultivated worldwide and this book explores plantings in a great diversity of environments, reflecting on the development of innovative cultural practices and conditions. It examines the increased scope and depth of research activities related to this crop and brings together the current status of knowledge on blueberry science and management. Explaining in an understandable manner the basic science behind the growth and development of blueberries, their botanical characteristics, as well as the implications and effects of various management practices and environmental conditions, Blueberries 2nd Edition also:
– Highlights emerging genetic information on the blueberry.
– Includes new information on pruning, grafting and irrigation.
– Covers current and potential uses of plant growth regulators.
– Gathers new information on fruit quality and consumer acceptance.
This definitive guide to blueberry cultivation is an essential resource for soft fruit researchers, extension workers, academics, breeders, growers and students.
About the author
James F. Hancock is a University Distinguished Professor at Michigan State University. He received his BS in Biology from Baldwin Wallace College (Berea, Ohio), a MS in Botany at Miami University (Oxford, Ohio) and a Ph.D. in Genetics at the University of California, Davis. After a short stint in the Biology Department at the University of South Carolina, he moved to Michigan State University (MSU) as an assistant professor of Horticulture, where he was for over thirty years, being promoted to Professor in 1986. He was the Director of the Plant Breeding and Genetics Program at MSU from 2004 to 2009. The emphasis of his research has been on the breeding and genetics of blueberries and strawberries, and he has published prodigiously in these areas. His previous books have been ‘The Strawberry’, ‘The Blueberry’ (with Jorge Retamales), ‘Plantation Crops: Power and Plunder, Evolution and Exploitation’ and ‘Plant Evolution and the Origin of Crop Species’. He has also edited ‘Temperate Fruit Crop Genetics: Germplasm to Genomics’, and ‘Environmental Biosafety’ (with Rebecca Grumet, Karim Maredia and Cholani Weebadde). He is fellow of the American Society for Horticultural Science, Wilder medal recipient of the American Pomological Society, a former Fulbright Fellow to Chile and received the Technology Transfer Achievement Award from the Innovation Center of MSU for his blueberry cultivar releases.