China: Fresh blueberries from Yunnan now available year-round

After 20 years of cultivation, investment and promotion, Yunnan Province has now achieved a year-round supply of fresh blueberries.

Much of Yunnan is on a low-latitude plateau, and 94% of the province is mountainous. The region is blessed with long hours of sunlight, warm days and cool nights, and abundant water resources. With these ideal blueberry growing conditions, Yunnan has become the preferred supplier to the US, Australia, UK, Chile, Spain, France and other major markets. At the end of 2021, Yunnan's blueberry cultivation area was around 6.700 hectares. With an output of about 45.000 metric tons, the province ranked sixth in China in terms of planting area and production.

Since 2002, the Institute of Alpine Botany and Economics of the Yunnan Academy of Agricultural Sciences has been researching 88 different blueberry varieties, which led to the selection of the 13 most suitable varieties for cultivation.

The institute has pioneered an efficient one-step tissue culture protocol for rapid propagation of blueberry seedlings. Compared with conventional tissue culture methods, the new protocol has reduced the seedling cultivation period from 150 days to only 30 days and greatly improved both the quality and survival rate of the new seedlings.

The Yunnan blueberry industry is divided into early, mid and late maturing growing areas. Early maturing production areas are concentrated in Honghe, Wenshan, Banna, Baoshan, Dehong, Lincang, Pu'er, Yuxi and other nearby cities. With altitudes ranging from 900 to 1500 meters, these areas benefit from abundant sunlight and remain frost-free for most of the year, with temperatures rarely dipping below 5 degrees Celsius, even in winter. In these areas, Southern Highbush varieties fruit between October and April.

Medium-ripening blueberry production areas are mainly in the temperate zones of Kunming, Qujing, Chuxiong, Dali, Zhaotong and Lijiang, at altitudes below 2.500 meters. These regions have abundant sunlight throughout the year and large temperature differences between day and night. Southern and Northern Highbush varieties are grown, and the fruiting period lasts from May to July.

Late maturing production areas include parts of Dali, Lijiang, Nujiang, Diqing and Zhaotong. Located above 2.500 meters, these areas have cold winters and a long period of frost. Late maturing Northern Highbush blueberry varieties planted in these regions require an extra month to reach maturity, but the slow accumulation of nutrients leads to excellent fruit quality. The fruiting period is from August to October of each year, thus ending when the early maturing areas begin to resume production.

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