Scope

Global blueberry production has experienced a rapid expansion in the past 30 plus years and is projected to continue to grow. A prosperous blueberry market relies on successful cultivar development and a sustainable production system. To better meet consumer demands for healthy and tasty fruit, growers must address the continuing challenges such as climate change, labor shortage, and increased disease pressure and higher production cost. Lots of exciting discoveries have been made in blueberry genetics, genomics, breeding, physiology, and other areas, which will be the foundation for overcoming many of the pressing challenges that the industry is facing. To better sustain a profitable and long-lasting blueberry industry, this focal issue aims to collect reports on new advances in blueberry research and provide directions for future research. The focal issue will emphasize advances in basic research, including but not limited to following areas:

• Genetics, genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, and phenomics

• Applications of artificial intelligence in phenotyping, production, and pest management

• New discoveries in breeding, selection, and propagation technologies, and germplasm collection, creation, and characterization

• Application of transgenics and gene editing techniques

• Biotic and abiotic stress tolerance

• Crop modeling, physiology and postharvest physiology

• Cultural solutions for climate-resilient blueberry production

• Characterization and improvement of blueberry health properties

Guest Editors

Dr. Sushan Ru, Auburn University, USA

Dr. Zhanao Deng, University of Florida, USA

Submission Deadline

The deadline for manuscript submissions is June 30, 2025, and can accept submission anytime, but we can accommodate extensions on a case-by-case basis. All papers will be published as open access articles upon acceptance, submission before the deadline will be waived for publication fee.

Submission Instructions

Please submit the full manuscript to Fruit Research via our Online Submission System. Additionally, please choose a topic of this Special Issue when submitting and mention it in your cover letter. For further inquiries, please contact Guest Editors, Sushan Ru <szr0099@auburn.edu>, and Zhanao Deng <zdeng@ufl.edu>.

Table Of Contents

Articles in the special issue will appear here as they are published.