ABSTRACT
Research efforts in Georgia over the past ten years with the growth regulator gibberellic acid (GA3) have overcome some of the fruit set problems with rabbiteye blueberry and have led to significant yield increases (NeSmith etal., 1995,1999; NeSmith and Krewer, 1992,1997a, 1997b, 1999). Even though research has shown positive benefits from using GA3 in many instances, there are still some problems with small, late ripening fruit when using the growth regulator (NeSmith and Krewer, 1999). The cytokinin compound N-(2-chloro-4-pyridyl)-N'- phenylurea (CPPU) has shown some positive results in increasing fruit size and fruit set in a number of fruit crops including table grapes, kiwifruit, apples, table olives, and Japanese persimmon (Antognozzi et ah, 1993a, and 1993b; Greene, 1989, 1993; Looney, 1993; Reynolds et ah, 1992; Sugiyamaand Yarnaki, 1995). Recently, research at The University of Georgia has shown that CPPU may also be beneficial in rabbiteye blueberry production (NeSmith, 2002). The objective of this research was to test the usage of CPPU in a number of commercial rabbiteye blueberry fields during the 2001 and 2002 growing seasons for potential benefits of increased fruit set and berry size.
