It is a major blueberry pest, causing crop losses of up to 30 percent in Mississippi alone. Sampson is turning to the midge's own natural enemies for ecologically safe pest control. He is working with ARS entomologist Michael E. Shauff, who is with the Systematic Entomology Laboratory in Beltsville, Maryland, to correctly identify the wasps. They develop inside the bodies of the gall midge larvae, eventually killing them. These antioxidants fight cell-damaging free radicals.
Blueberries also contain folic acid, ellagic acid, and bacterial inhibitors.
As if that weren't enough nutrition packed in one fruit, horticulturist James B. Magee, also with the Poplarville station, is screening southern cultivated and wild berries, including blueberries, for their potential to produce resveratrol. Resveratrol has been touted for its anticancer properties and cardiovascular benefits. He's collaborating with chemist Agnes Rimando, who is in the ARS Natural Products Utilization Research Unit, in Oxford, Mississippi. But once we find some, we hope to use them in our breeding programs to develop cultivars that will produce resveratrol in their fruit. Magee is also conducting studies to examine microbial populations in fresh and frozen southern highbush and rabbiteye blueberries.