Nanjing Shuangcui Food Co., Ltd.

Blackberry is one of the most important species of four major small fruit trees widely cultivated and planted in Europe and America. In recent years, as for the development of fruit trees all over the world, the development speed of the small fruit trees is about 3 times than that of other fruit trees. Blackberry is known as of a newly emerging small fruit species. The main reason is its fruits and products are nutritious. Most of its fruit have beautiful color, mellow flavor and a unique and pleasant fragrance. Most of its species also have some unique functions of nutrition and health care. It is determined by us that blackberry fruit contains:
 

Water: 88.0 ~ 88.8%;
Soluble Solids: 6.5 ~ 8.5%;
Sugar (mainly reducing sugars): 5.5 ~ 7.0%;
Organic Acids: 1.2 ~ 1.4%;

Crude Protein: 1.5 ~ 1.7%;
Vitamin C: 8.5 ~ 10.5mg/100g;
Vitamin E: 3.0 mg/100g;
Vitamin K: 0.08 ~ 0.11 mg/100g;...

Blackberry is a kind of shrubbery, which can be divided into erect, semi-erect and rambling types by the stem erectness, and into barb and non-barb type by the stem barb. The underground parts of blackberry cultivars are perennial, without main root, and having shallower root distribution; and, the overground parts are biennial, that is, they are sprouted from roots or root necks in each spring, only having vegetative growth in the current year, and blossom and bear fruit in the following year. The biennial branches naturally die back after shooting and bearing fruit, and they are substituted by new annual branches. The sprouting quantity varies by species, generally 1-3 branches, and that of some species have 5-10 branches. The blossom bud is common bud, and formed inside axil. Its bisexual flower is in panicle, self-pollinated and in pink or white. During the inflorescence duration, the top flower is generally open first of all, and then followed up by the base upward. The sequence of fruit ripeness is the same as the inflorescence. The fruit maturity of most species is between June and August, that of a small number of early maturing species is between May and June, and that of a small number of late maturing species is in September. The shape of aggregate fruit varies by species, and the color of ripe fruit is mostly purple black. However, the fruit of a small number of species varieties is solid, and in purple and red.

Blackberry belongs to eubatus of rubus of rosaceae, also known as eubatus, which includes more than 444 species, accounting for near 60% of all the species of rubus. Eubatus is mostly concentrated in North America (444 species), followed by Europe (66 species). Eubatus has rich species, of which a lot of species have the value of cultivation and breeding. In particular, there are 10 species having the most prominent value, such as R.allegheniensis Porter, R.argutus Link., R. Canadensis L., R.cuneifolius Pursh., R . frondosus Bigel, lobophylla blackberry, R.pergratus Blanch, R.loganobaccus Bailey, R.vitifolius Cham & Schlecht and R.ulmifolius Schott. Blackberry is native to eastern of North America and central Europe.

It is difficult to determine the source of the original species. Generally, it is considered that it is largely derived from special hybrids of some species of Eubatus (giving the priority to the 10 species above), namely the products of hybridization and polyploidization of two or more species. Some species applied in the production even include the genetic components of raspberry (such as Boysen, Logan, Young, etc.), and they are hybrids of blackberry and raspberry. So, the species of blackberry are mainly heterozygote, with haploid number of chromosomes between 2X and 12X, most of which are allopolyploids. The species of blackberry extensively planted generally have no scientific name, and they are usually expressed as hybrids of Rubus spp. The commercial cultivation of blackberry is originated in North America, 200 ~ 300 years later than that of raspberry, and the cultivation history is about 150 ~ 200 years. Hundreds of species have been successfully cultivated abroad, and the first cultivar - Aughinbaugh was born in 1880.