Iranian Researchers Offer New Method to Increase Blackberry Shelf Life

Blackberries can last between two to three days in your refrigerator, after which they can start to rot and turn moldy. 

"We have focused on the production and propagation of berry seedlings through tissue culture (TC) method. After keeping these seedlings in the greenhouse for some time, we deliver them to the farmers," said Reza Ahmadian, the managing director of an Iranian knowledge-based company, in an interview with Iranian media.

He went on to say that the seedlings belong to the berry family, including blackberry, raspberry, blueberry, cranberry, gorjiberry, adding, blackberries are the same wild black rasberries native to Iran.

"The raspberries that grow in Iran are small and prickly, while their productivity is low. But the yield of seedlings produced in this company is 10 to 20 times that of other seedlings," he added.

Ahmadian mentioned the big and sweet fruit as another feature of the seedlings produced in the company, adding, "The plants produced using this method are thornless."

The managing director of the knowledge-based company stated that their company obtained the knowledge-based grade due to the production of blackberry seedlings, noting, "Our innovation in this plan is that we infused two types of blackberry together and finally released a new blackberry. which is bigger and precocious in terms of size."

He said that the time to harvest the fruit of the blackberry seedlings produced in the company is four weeks, adding, "We have studies on six varieties of blackberries on the agenda. Blackberry or raspberry in Iran is available in the market between four and six weeks and then disappear from the market until next year, but we are trying to increase the freshness availablity of this crop to six months."

According to the executive director of the project, the study on increasing the fressness time of blackberry has started in Mazandaran province in the North of Iran and so far two varieties have been planted.

 "In order to increase the freshness time, we produced four varieties of seedlings. The early seedlings start bearing fruit from middle of May, which continues until the end of May, and in the second series, another varinat of blackberry was produced, which starts from the beginning of June to August and other varieties bear fruit from August to September."

"The fourth type of blackberry seedling that we produced is late ripening and will bear fruit as long as the cold does not affect it," he added. 

"Humidity is needed for blueberry and raspberry cultivation. Blueberry has two types, cold and tropical, and can be cultivated in any region across Iran. Gorjiberry is also a salt-resistant plant that does not need a lot of water, and we have obtained good results from the seedlings we planted in Yazd Province in Central Iran," he went on to say.

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