A study was done to determine the effects of irrigation method and level of water application on yield and fruit quality of 'Elliott' highbush blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum L.). Plants were grown on mulched, raised beds and irrigated by overhead sprinklers, microsprays, or drip at 50, 100, and 150% of the crop evapotranspiration requirement (ET c). Overall, marketable yield and individual berry weight were higher in plants irrigated by drip than in those irrigated by sprinklers and microsprays. Yield and berry weight were also higher on average when plants were irrigated at 100% ET c than at 50% ET c but were similar between plants irrigated at 100% and 150% ET c. Thus, as expected, plants were generally under-irrigated at 50% ET c and over-irrigated at 150% ET c ; however, this was not always the case. Yield did not increase between 50% and 100% ET c when plants were irrigated by drip, and berry weight increased from 100% to 150% ET c when plants were irrigated by microsprays. Interestingly, drip reduced berry firmness and soluble solids relative to sprinkler and microspray irrigation, potentially increasing problems with soft fruit during shipping and storage. Titratable acidity was also lower with drip but only when plants were irrigated at 50% ET c. While irrigation method and the amount of water application affected yield and fruit quality in blueberry, more work is needed to identify the best combinations of each to produce the most marketable fruit.
Blueberries (Vaccinium spp.) require low soil pH and prefer N primarily as NH 4 + for optimum production. Nitrogen fertilizer methods and rates were evaluated in a new field of 'Bluecrop' blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum L.) to determine their effects on soil pH and availability of NH 4 + and NO 3 -in soil solution. Treatments included four application methods (split fertigation, continuous fertigation, and two non-fertigated controls) and four rates of N application (0, 50, 100, and 150 kg·ha -1 N). Fertigation treatments were irrigated by drip and injected with liquid urea fertilizer; split fertigation was applied as a triple-split from April to June while continuous fertigation was applied weekly from leaf emergence to ≈2 months prior to the end of the growing season. Nonfertigated controls were fertilized with a triple-split of granular ammonium sulfate and irrigated by drip or microsprays. Soil pH was usually lower with microsprays than with drip, even when no N fertilizer was applied; however, soil pH was also reduced with higher N applications and, in fact, was similar between continuous fertigation and granular fertilizer (microspray) treatments when 150 kg·ha -1 N was added. Nitrogen application with granular fertilizer, whether irrigated by microspray or drip, maintained much higher NH 4 + concentrations than continuous or split fertigation but often increased electrical conductivity (salinity) of the soil solution (EC w ) to >2 dS·m -1 . By comparison, EC w was always <1.5 dS·m -1 with either fertigation method. Granular N application coupled with microsprays also resulted in higher NO 3 -concentrations than any other treatment, which may lead to more N leaching since the ability of blueberry to acquire NO 3 --N is limited.
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