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- Author or Editor: Leonard J. Eaton x
Increasing the size of containers used to transport wild lowbush blueberry (Vaccinium angustifolium) fruit from the field to the processing facility has the potential to increase handling efficiency. Currently the wild blueberry industry uses a standard 18-inch-long × 15-inch-wide × 5-inch-deep plastic container that holds about 20 lb of fruit. This study examined the development of a new, pallet-sized high-capacity blueberry container and determined its effects on fruit quality following harvesting, transport, and processing. Laboratory studies on the effects of packing depth of berries on fruit quality demonstrated that container depths of 14.2 inches were damaging to fruit 24 hours following harvest, transport, and holding under ambient conditions, while depths of 7.1 inches were not. In commercial trials with larger pallet-sized prototype containers, fruit depths of up to 10 inches were not damaging to fruit under otherwise typical commercial handling conditions. Dumping fruit from the 10-inch-deep pallet-sized containers onto conveyer belts at the processing facility caused minimal damage to the fruit. In addition, fruit crushing that occurred in the large pallet-sized containers was similar to that occurring in the standard 20-lb plastic containers currently used by the industry. Results of these studies indicate that large pallet-size blueberry containers with a depth of 10 inches could be used without causing significant damage to fresh fruit during harvest, transport, and processing. Thus as a whole, the adoption of this type of container would improve handling efficiency and potentially the quality of the fruit.
Two commercial freezers were modified to provide an inexpensive chamber system to investigate frost effects on wild, lowbush blueberries (Vaccinium angustifolium) under field conditions. A computer control system was developed with software written in Visual Basic 6.0 for MSWindows, which precisely controlled temperature in the plant canopy when the chambers were placed over blueberry plants in the field. Frost events (with temperatures ranging from -2 to -15 °C (28.4 to 5.0 °F)) were simulated by user input to control the cooling and warming rates, and minimum temperatures. The system records temperature set points, and current temperature in the plant canopy, or elsewhere in the plant environment, and provides a graphical display of key parameters. Trials have verified the reproducability of temperature profiles and the chambers have been used to provide preliminary information on the effects of frost at bloom on fruit set and development.