Blueberry Leaf Cuticular Conductance

I first joined the Small Fruit Horticulture Lab at the University of Florida's Horticultural Sciences Department in 2022 under my mentor, Gerardo H. Nunez. Since then, I have been developing my project analyzing the cuticular conductance rates of some of the most prominent of Florida's blueberry plant varieties. 

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Plants control water loss using their stomata, closing them in the presence of hot and windy conditions to prevent drying out. However, plants also lose water from their epidermal cells through their cuticle (cuticular conductance), a process which plants cannot control. Young leaves do not have fully developed cuticles, which elevates their risk of excessive water loss and wilting. Cuticular conductance is an important factor in the growth of blueberry plants in Florida, where environmental conditions exacerbate water loss. Because of this, we have been measuring the rates of cuticular conductance among young and mature leaves of various Southern Highbush Blueberry interspecific varieties using a dark dehydration chamber we constructed. We are additionally measuring the cuticle thickness of these leaves.