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Abstract
In the United States, production of specialty crops is increasing rapidly with more interest in human nutrition from plants. Blueberries are one crop that has the potential to benefit human health through antioxidants. Understanding plant’s growth and developmental processes are essential to increase yields and productivity. One important aspect of plant growth and development is nutrition. Nitrogen (N) is one of the most essential nutrients for plants. Understanding how blueberries uptake and utilize N is paramount for optimizing its growth and developmental characteristics. N is present and available to plants in 2 inorganic forms: ammonium (NH4+) and nitrate (NO3-). It has been observed that plants have preferences for one form over the other. This concept, known as N-source preference, has led to better understand of plant nutrition. We plan to investigate this concept with regards to Georgia-grown blueberry cultivars based on N-uptake kinetics and N-source preference when supplied both inorganic forms simultaneously.