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In our Breeder Spotlight Series, we’ll interview blueberry and cranberry breeders to learn more about their roles, challenges in their breeding programs, and have them highlight some of their favorite new cultivars. For our first spotlight, we spoke to…
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In our Student Spotlight Series, we want to introduce you to the students who help make VacCAP possible through their passion and hard work. In our inagural segment, get to know Alan Yocca, a PhD Candidate in the Edger Lab at Michigan State University.…
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Sensory testing surveys offer important consumer feedback and useful insights to researchers. Dr. Charles Sims, Co-PI and Professor at the University of Florida (UF), recently concluded a blueberry sensory study to get a better understanding of consumers…
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When you hear the term “fruit quality”, what comes to mind? Quality is often a subjective term. Fruit quality may mean something different to everyone—especially a breeder, a grower, industry member, or a consumer. We spoke to Rod Serres, Senior Manager…
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The Nutrition Facts Label (NFL) Canales and Gallardo used in their study. Figure B is an old version of the NFL for dried cranberries, and in Figure A there is the version where added sugars are reported. Photo contributed by Canales.
While VacCAP…
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Summarized by: Josie Russo
Authors
Stephanie Kay Fong, Joseph Kawash, Yifei Wang, Jennifer Johnson-Cicalese, James Polashock, and Nicholi Vorsa
Tree Genetics & Genomes 17, 4 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11295-020-01482-8
Highlights…
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Over the last decade, Dr. Juan Zalapa has been working on a puzzle—a 500-million-piece one. Zalapa and others in his team—such as Luis Diaz-Garcia—is working to assemble the ‘Stevens’ cranberry genome in order to identify which genes control what traits…
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Be sure to tune into this week’s episode of “The Business of Blueberries'' podcast to hear VacCAP team members discuss the project and research.
Guests:
Massimo Iorizzo, Ph.D., associate professor in the North Carolina State University…
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Soon after I joined the small fruit scientific community in 2015, I realized that the ingredients needed to establish a community-based project to support advances in molecular breeding for blueberry and cranberry were already in place.
Blueberries…
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The Vaccinium Coordinated Agricultural Project (VacCAP) is a massive undertaking, involving researchers from multiple U.S. academic institutions, USDA research centers, and international research partners. But what exactly is VacCAP, and how do we plan…
