Liaolan 513, a new early-ripening blueberry cultivar

Abstract：Blueberry belonging to the genus Vaccinium of the family Ericaceae is extensively cultivated worldwide. China holds the top position in terms of blueberry cultivation area globally, and the selection of excellent is very important for the development of the industry. Liaolan 513 is a new exceptionally early- ripening blueberry cultivar selected by the Liaoning Institute of Pomology from F1 progenies of Spartan (northern highbush) × N6 (southern highbush). The crossing was made in 2008, and 141 seedlings were raised in 2009. These seedlings were planted in the Blueberry Hybrid Breeding Nursery of the Liaoning Institute of Pomology in 2010 and started fruit in in 2012. Six excellent strains were selected in 2015, among them the individual coded 08-42-97 exhibited outstanding comprehensive traits. Tissue culture propagation were conducted in the same year. After four years of observation and DUS testing, Liaolan 513 demonstrated stable botanical traits and excellent characteristics, such as extremely early-ripening. The new variety certificate was issued by the State Forestry and Grassland Administration on December 29, 2022 with the cultivar certificate number 20220530. This cultivar belongs to the Northern- Southern Highbush Blueberry. The flower buds and corollas turned slightly red, and it had short clusters with altar-shaped corollas featuring a corolla ridge. The leaf buds bursted early, and the length of new bearing branches ranged from 20 cm to 25 cm, with 3 to 6 fruits per bud. Liaolan 513 is known for its large, sweet, and flavorful blueberries with a medium, dry picking scar. The average fruit weight was 3.4 g (the largest fruit was 5.1 g), and the soluble solids content and total acid contentwere13.6% and 0.69%, respectively. Additionally, the plants thrived well in the field, exhibiting good survival rate. Under open field cultivation, the blooming time was late april and the fruit maturing time was from mid to late in Xiongyue area of Liaoning province. The fruit development period lasted approximately 55 days. Liaolan 513 had strong sprouting ability of the bottom buds on the branches, rapid formation of the fruiting branches, and robust tree vigor. The ripe fruits were not easy to drop. The fruits exhibited good storage ability.