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Fruit acidity is an essential factor affecting blueberry organoleptic quality. The organic acid content in blueberry fruit mainly contributes to fruit acidity. This study aims to evaluate the effect of exogenous salicylic acid (SA), the principal metabolite of aspirin, on the organoleptic quality and organic acid metabolism in rabbiteye blueberry ( Vaccinium virgatum Ait, ‘Powderblue’) during cold storage (4 °C). Results showed that SA-treated fruit reduced fruit decay and weight loss delayed fruit softening, and decline of total soluble solids (TSS). TA and total organic acid amounts stayed the same during the late storage period in SA-treated fruit. Four kinds of organic acid components, malic acid, quinic acid, citric acid, and succinic acid, were at higher levels in fruit treated by SA as compared to control. SA enhanced the activities of PEPC, NAD-MDH, and CS to promote the synthesis of malic acid and citric acid. Meanwhile, the activities of NADP-ME, ACL, and ACO, which participated in the degradation of malic acid and citric acid, were inhibited by SA. qPCR results also showed that the expression of VcPEPC , VcNAD-MDH , and VcCS genes were upregulated. In contrast, SA downregulated the expression of VcNADP-ME , VcACL , and VcACO genes. In conclusion, SA could regulate the key genes and enzymes that participated in organic acids metabolism to maintain the freshness of blueberry during cold storage, therefore minimizing the economic loss.

There is limited information on the distribution of blueberry viruses in the U.S. or around the world other than where the viruses were first discovered and characterized. A survey for blueberry viruses was carried out in the U.S. in 2015–2017. Most blueberry viruses have been characterized to the point that sensitive diagnostic assays have been developed. These assays are based on ELISA or variations of PCR, which were employed here to determine the presence of blueberry viruses in major blueberry production and nursery areas of the U.S. The viruses included in this study were: blueberry fruit drop (BFDaV), blueberry latent (BlLV), blueberry leaf mottle (BLMoV), blueberry mosaic (BlMaV), blueberry red ringspot (BRRV), blueberry scorch (BlScV), blueberry shock (BlShV), blueberry shoestring (BlSSV), blueberry virus A (BVA), peach rosette mosaic (PRMV), tobacco ringspot (TRSV), and tomato ringspot (ToRSV). In the Pacific Northwest BlShV was the most widespread virus, with BlScV and ToRSV detected in a limited number of fields in Oregon and Washington, but BlScV was widespread in British Columbia. In the upper midwest, the nematode-borne (ToRSV, TRSV), aphid-transmitted (BlSSV and BVA) and pollen-borne (BLMoV) viruses were most widespread. In the northeast, TRSV, ToRSV, and BlScV, were detected most frequently. In the southeast, BRRV and BNRBV were the most widespread viruses. BlLV, a cryptic virus with no known symptoms or effect on plant growth or yield was present in all regions. There are other viruses present at low levels in each of the areas, but with the lower incidence they pose minimal threat to nursery systems or fruit production. These results indicate that there are hotspots for individual virus groups that normally coincide with the presence of the vectors. The information presented highlights the high risk viruses for nursery and fruit production each pose a different challenge for control.

In order to achieve accurate, fast, and robust recognition of blueberry fruit maturity stages for edge devices such as orchard inspection robots, this research proposes a lightweight detection method based on an improved YOLOv5 algorithm. In the improved YOLOv5 algorithm, the ShuffleNet module is used to achieve lightweight deep-convolutional neural networks. The Convolutional Block Attention Module (CBAM) is also used to enhance the feature fusion capability of lightweight deep-convolutional neural networks. The effectiveness of this method is evaluated using the blueberry fruit dataset. The experimental results demonstrate that this method can effectively detect blueberry fruits and recognize their maturity stages in orchard environments. The average recall (R) of the detection is 92.0%. The mean average precision (mAP) of the detection at a threshold of 0.5 is 91.5%. The average speed of the detection is 67.1 frames per second (fps). Compared to other detection algorithms, such as YOLOv5, SSD, and Faster R-CNN, this method has a smaller model size, smaller network parameters, lower memory usage, lower computation usage, and faster detection speed while maintaining high detection performance. It is more suitable for migration and deployment on edge devices. This research can serve as a reference for the development of fruit detection systems for intelligent orchard devices.

Blueberry is among the fruits with high economic gains for orchard farmers. Identification of blueberry fruits with different maturities has economic significance to help orchard farmers plan pesticide application, estimate yield, and conduct harvest operations efficiently. Vision systems for automated orchard yield estimation have received growing attention toward fruit identification with different maturity stages. However, due to interfering factors such as varying outdoor illuminations, similar colors with the surrounding canopy, imaging distance, and occlusion in natural environments, it remains a serious challenge to develop reliable visual methods for identifying blueberry fruits with different maturities. This study constructed a YOLO-BLBE (Blueberry) model combined with an innovative I-MSRCR (Improved MSRCR (Multi-Scale Retinex with Color Restoration)) method to accurately identify blueberry fruits with different maturities. The color feature of blueberry fruit in the original image was enhanced by the I-MSRCR algorithm, which was improved based on the traditional MSRCR algorithm by adjusting the proportion of color restoration factors. The GhostNet model embedded by the CA (coordinate attention) mechanism module replaced the original backbone network of the YOLOv5s model to form the backbone of the YOLO-BLBE model. The BIFPN (Bidirectional Feature Pyramid Network) structure was applied in the neck network of the YOLO-BLBE model, and Alpha-EIOU was used as the loss function of the model to determine and filter candidate boxes. The main contributions of this study are as follows: (1) The I-MSRCR algorithm proposed in this paper can effectively amplify the color differences between blueberry fruits of different maturities. (2) Adding the synthesized blueberry images processed by the I-MSRCR algorithm to the training set for training can improve the model’s recognition accuracy for blueberries of different maturity levels. (3) The YOLO-BLBE model achieved an average identification accuracy of 99.58% for mature blueberry fruits, 96.77% for semi-mature blueberry fruits, and 98.07% for immature blueberry fruits. (4) The YOLO-BLBE model had a size of 12.75 MB and an average detection speed of 0.009 s.

The blueberry (Vaccinium spp.), recognized as one of the most significant horticultural crops globally, is valued for its rich bioactive compounds. In this study, we examine the effects of methyl jasmonate (MeJA) on blueberry, focusing on cell wall composition, nutritional properties, and antioxidant enzyme activity across two seasons (2022-2023). The objective is to evaluate the impact of MeJA treatments on fruit ripening dynamics and quality attributes. Blueberry plants were treated with single (T1) and double (T2) MeJA applications. Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) were used to assess thermal degradation patterns of cell wall polymers. Biochemical evaluations included phenolic content, antioxidant capacity (DPPH and FRAP assays), and anthocyanin accumulation during ripening. Enzymatic antioxidant activities (APX, CAT, SOD, and POD) were also analyzed to determine oxidative stress responses. Thermal degradation analysis revealed that green-stage fruits exhibited higher thermal stability than ripe fruits, with variations in pink-stage behavior between seasons. Biochemical assessments indicated a progressive decline in phenolic content and antioxidant capacity during ripening, whereas anthocyanin accumulation peaked in the blue stage, enhancing pigmentation. MeJA treatments significantly influenced antioxidant enzyme activity: T1 maximized APX, CAT, and SOD activities, while T2 amplified POD activity, contributing to oxidative stress tolerance and improved fruit quality. Furthermore, the modulation of hemicellulose fractions in TGA profiles suggests that MeJA helps maintain cell wall integrity, potentially reducing fruit softening during storage. These findings indicate that MeJA enhances fruit resilience during ripening while preserving key biochemical properties critical for postharvest management. The observed improvements in antioxidant capacity, enzymatic activity, and cell wall stability suggest that MeJA could be a valuable tool for optimizing postharvest handling, extending shelf life, and enhancing the marketability of blueberries. This work provides a preliminary framework for integrating MeJA into sustainable horticultural practices to meet consumer demand for high-quality functional fruits.

Fruits form an important part of a healthy human diet as they contain many ingredients with proven pro-health effects such as vitamins, phenolic compounds, organic acids, fiber, and minerals. The purpose of this work was to evaluate the effect of pullulan coating on the quality and shelf life of highbush blueberry during storage. General appearance, weight loss, dry matter, soluble solid content, reducing sugars, content of L-ascorbic acid, phenolic compounds (total phenolics, phenolics acids and anthocyanins) were determined in uncoated and coated blueberries fruits. The microbiological efficiency of pullulan coating was also evaluated. All parameters were monitored during storage at 4 °C and 16 °C by 28 and 14 days, respectively. The study showed that pullulan coating protects perishable food products especially susceptible to mechanical injury including fruits such as blueberries. Pullulan acts as a barrier that minimizes respiration rate, delaying deterioration and controlling microbial growth.

The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of 1-methylcyclopropene (1-MCP) combined with UV-C irradiation on postharvest quality of blueberry fruit ( Vaccinium spp. Berkeley) stored at 4 ± 1 °C for 8 days. Respiration rate, ethylene production, decay incidence, softness, color, total anthocyanin content, malondialdehyde (MDA) content, titratable acid content, soluble solid content, peroxidase (POD), phenylalanine ammonia lyase (PAL), and catalase (CAT) of treated blueberry fruit were examined. The results indicated that treatment with 1-MCP plus UV-C irradiation inhibited respiration rate, ethylene production, decay incidence, and MDA content. The combined treatment also delayed softness, color, titratable acid, and soluble solid content and improved total anthocyanin content of blueberries throughout the storage period at 4 ± 1 °C compared to the untreated samples. The efficiency of the combined treatment (1-MCP + UV-C irradiation) was better than that of 1-MCP or UV-C irradiation alone. Furthermore, combination of 1-MCP and UV-C irradiation effectively enhanced PAL and CAT activities and inhibited the increasing of POD activity in blueberries. Therefore, our results shows that 1-MCP plus UV-C irradiation treatments may be a useful method in maintaining commercial quality and extending shelf life of blueberries.

Thermal processing of whole fruits often leads to significant quality degradation, limiting consumer acceptance and market value. This study assessed the quality and microbial safety of thermally processed whole blueberries treated with a novel copigmentation and cellulose nanofiber (CNF)‐based layer‐by‐layer (LBL) emulsion coating. It also evaluated sensory attributes and consumer acceptance of three blueberry products made with coated and uncoated (control) blueberries. The coating effectively reduced anthocyanin leaching and preserved the firmness of blueberries after canning. A microbial challenge study confirmed no growth of total aerobic microbial count in inoculated E. coli ATCC 25922 surrogate fruit after thermal processing. In consumer panels ( n = 107), participants rated appearance, color, aroma, texture, and overall liking of three products, such as mixed fruit cup, blueberry fruit cup, and blueberry yogurt, using a 9‐point scale. Control samples generally received higher scores across attributes, with significant differences in overall liking, appearance, color, aroma, and texture. A Just‐About‐Right (JAR) analysis indicated that while the coating enhanced color and aroma, over 35% of participants found the skin “too thick,” and over 40% rated the firmness as “too firm.” The coating was positively received for color in fruit cups and yogurt but deemed too thick and light in mixed fruit cups, suggesting that product‐specific factors influence perception. Future research should focus on refining the coating to better meet consumer expectations for appearance and texture.

The delicate fruits of highbush blueberry are exposed to factors causing mechanical damage and yield losses during cultivation, harvesting, and postharvest handling. Foliar stimulation with silicon-based formulations may improve fruit firmness and postharvest quality, thereby increasing the market value of the produce. This study evaluated the effect of foliar silicon fertilisation on highbush blueberry fruit quality in terms of changes in mechanical properties, taking into account the applied spraying technique. The experiments were conducted using standard flat-fan and air-induction nozzles at different spraying speeds and varying spray liquid pressures. Treatment quality was assessed based on the degree of spray deposition, determined through analysis of silicon content in leaves and fruits. Instrumental compression and fruit detachment tests were performed to determine safe ranges of pressures and forces from the perspective of harvest quality. The results showed that the loads exerted by the picker’s hand during manual harvesting of the cultivar ‘Patriot’ remain within safe limits but are close to the critical threshold of fruit mechanical resistance (2 N). The greatest increases in destructive force and fruit firmness were obtained with the use of standard XR nozzles, reaching 3.19–3.34 N (up to 19%) and 2.03–2.21 N (up to 10%), respectively, compared with the control treatment. These findings provide practical guidance for optimising foliar silicon applications and spray parameters in highbush blueberry cultivation to improve fruit mechanical resistance and reduce the risk of harvest and postharvest damage.

Photoaging is a process related to an increased level of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Polyphenols can scavenge free radicals in the body, which can delay skin aging. Therefore, our work aimed to prepare a biologically active extract from dry fruits of Vaccinium myrtillus or Vaccinium corymbosum and use it for the preparation of hydrogels for topical application. Therefore, eight different extracts (using V. myrtillus and V. corymbosum and different extraction mixtures: methanol, methanol–water 1:1, water, acetone–water 1:1) were prepared and their phytochemical (total polyphenolic content, total flavonoid content, total anthocyanin content) and biological properties (antioxidant, anti-hyaluronidase, and anti-tyrosinase activity) were assessed. Cytotoxicity towards HaCaT keratinocytes was also determined. Based on the results, the acetone–water extract from V. myrtillus was selected for further study. Using the Design of Experiments approach, chitosan-based hydrogels with bilberry fruit extract were prepared. The content of extract and chitosan were selected as independent factors. The activity of hydrogels depended on the extract content; however, the enzyme-inhibiting (anti-hyaluronidase and anti-tyrosinase) activity resulted from the presence of both the extract and chitosan. Increased concentration of chitosan in the hydrogel base led to increased viscosity of the hydrogel and, consequently, a slower release of active compounds. To get optimal hydrogel characteristics, 1% extract and 2.5% MMW chitosan were utilized. The research suggests the validity of using bilberry fruit extracts in topical preparations with anti-aging properties.