**5. Conclusions**

Data from this study indicated that ethephon applied at a relatively low dose of 250 mg L−<sup>1</sup> accelerated the progression of ripening in rabbiteye blueberries without altering many of the fruit quality characteristics. The other two PGRs tested, ABA and MeJA, did not appear to alter the progression of ripening in these cultivars. Further studies are needed to determine whether ethephon can consistently alter the ripening process in other types of blueberry, particularly southern highbush blueberry. In such studies, it may be essential to evaluate multiple doses of application, stages of application in relation to fruit development, and the time of day of application to determine the optimum application parameters for this PGR. Additionally, considering the response to ethephon, mechanisms involved in ethylene-mediated alteration of fruit ripening warrant further evaluation in blueberry.

**Author Contributions:** Conceptualization, A.M., H.S. and S.U.N.; Formal analysis, Y.-W.W.; Funding acquisition, A.M., H.S. and S.U.N.; Investigation, A.M., H.S. and S.U.N.; Methodology, Y.-W.W. A.M., J.W.D. H.S., and S.U.N.; Project administration, S.U.N.; Resources, S.U.N.; Supervision, S.U.N.; Validation, Y.-W.W. and S.U.N.; Writing—original draft, Y.-W.W. and S.U.N.; Writing—review & editing, Y.-W.W., A.M., H.S. and S.U.N.

**Funding:** This project was partly funded by the Southern Region Small Fruit Consortium, gran<sup>t</sup> number: 2016 R-19.

**Acknowledgments:** We thank Laura J. Kraft for her help with measurement of fruit quality attributes.

**Conflicts of Interest:** The authors declare no conflict of interest. The Southern Region Small Fruit Consortium (funding agency) played no role in the design of the study, data collection and analysis, in preparing the manuscript and the decision to publish the results.
