PRELIMINARY RESULTS REGARDING THE TOTAL SUGAR CONTENT OF BLUEBERRY GENITORS AND HYBRID PROGENIES

Blueberry belongs to the Vaccinium Genus, Ericaceae Family, Ericales Order. The highbush blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum L.) is classified as a commercially-grown berry. Blueberries are appreciated for their taste, nutritional value, and both pharmacological properties and biologically active functions. This study objective was to determine the total sugar content in frozen fruits of the highbush blueberry genotypes used as genitors ('Simultan', 'Delicia', 'Duke', 'Azur', 'Northblue', '4/6', '6/38') and 88 hybrid progenies 'Simultan x Duke', 'Simultan x Northblue', 'Azur x 6/38', 'Azur x 4/6', 'Delicia x Duke', 'Delicia x Northblue'. The total sugar content of frozen fruits was analyzed by the phenol-sulfuric acid method. The results showed that the total sugar content of the genitors varied between 2.83 and 3.81 g glucose/100 g. The fruits of 'Simultan' cv. had the highest total sugar content (3.81 g glucose/100 g). The highest total sugar content, 5.486 g glucose/100 g, was found in a 'Simultan × Duke' hybrids.