Does Pollen ‘Neighborhood’ Affect Berry Yield In Lowbush Blueberry (Vaccinium Angustifolium Ait)?

Proximally growing individuals of wild, lowbush blueberry (Vaccinium angustifolium Ait.) vary widely in yield despite being grown under conditions in which environmental heterogeneity is minimized by cultivation practices. We recently established that the relative self-fertility of the bearing plant is a significant predictor of its outcross yield. Further, although the species has historically been characterized as largely self-infertile, we, and others, have documented large variation in this trait among individuals within fields, and, thus, relative self-fertility stands as a partial explanation of yield variation in addition to other genetic factors, such as significant general and specific combining abilities. Here, we extend our scope by experimentally addressing whether pollen neighborhood affects yield. Lowbush blueberry is not sown, rather individuals have colonized fields by natural processes. Commercial fields of lowbush are generally pollinated by rented honey bees, which tend to pollinate nea...