Soil Chemical Properties and Bush Growth of Two Blueberry Cultivars as Affected by Soil Media Mixed with Peatmoss and Cocopeat

Mi Geon Cheon; Seo Hyoun Lee; Kyung Mi Park; Seong-Tae Choi; Yeon Hyeon Hwang; Young Ho Chang

doi:10.7745/KJSSF.2021.54.3.331

All Issue

2021 Vol.54, Issue 3 Preview Page Next Page

Original research article

Soil Chemical Properties and Bush Growth of Two Blueberry Cultivars as Affected by Soil Media Mixed with Peatmoss and Cocopeat

31 August 2021. pp. 331-337

PDF XML

Abstract

This experiment was conducted to evaluate the usefullness of cocopeat as a soil medium in blueberry cultivation. Two-year-old northern highbush blueberry ‘Duke’ and southern highbush blueberry ‘Spring High’ were planted in soil medium mixed with peatmoss (soil:peatmoss (v/v), 1:1) or cocopeat (soil:cocopeat (v/v), 1:1) in open fields in 2019. Soil pH measured in 2020 and 2021 ranged from 4.2 to 5.0 in peatmoss and 5.2 to 5.8 in cocopeat medium, indicating peatmoss has more suitable pH for blueberry growth. Two years soil analyses indicated that peatmoss medium tended to contain a higher available P₂O₅ content and lower exchangeable cations compared with those of cocopeat. In 2021, peatmoss medium significantly increased the number of shoots per bush, by 16% for ‘Duke’ and 92% for ‘Spring High’ compared with the cocopeat. Bushes from peatmoss medium produced yield 1.9- to 2.7-fold higher for two years in ‘Duke’ and 1.4- to 1.8-fold higher in ‘Spring High’ compared with respective yields from cocopeat. Fruit characteristics for two years were not consistently affected by different soil media, except that the acidity was slightly higher in peatmoss. The results suggested that since the better bush growth from peatmoss medium resulted mainly from lower soil pH, the use of cocopeat as a soil medium should be followed by pH adjustment.

Yield and fruit characteristics of two blueberry cultivars as affected by different soil media.

Year	Cultivar	Soil medium	Yield (kg/bush)	Fruit characteristic
Year	Cultivar	Soil medium	Yield (kg/bush)	Berry weight (g)	Soluble solids (°Brix)	Titratable acidity (%)	Firmness (N)
2020	Duke	Peatmoss	0.97	2.2	10.5	0.35	4.9
		Cocopeat	0.36	2.4	9.8	0.33	3.4
			**	ns	*	ns	ns
	Spring high	Peatmoss	0.46	2.3	10.2	0.34	3.6
		Cocopeat	0.34	2.3	10.0	0.34	3.1
			*	ns	ns	ns	ns
2021	Duke	Peatmoss	4.0	2.2	11.1	0.58	3.1
		Cocopeat	2.1	2.4	10.1	0.38	3.1
			*	ns	ns	*	ns
	Spring high	Peatmoss	5.2	3.3	11.2	0.48	3.8
		Cocopeat	2.9	3.2	11.0	0.36	2.7
			**	ns	ns	ns	*

^{NS, *, **} Nonsignificant or significant at p ≤ 0.05, or 0.01, respectively.

Keywords

Blueberry

Cocopeat

Peatmoss

Soil chemical propertiy

References

Ancu, I., M. Iancu, P. Mladin, and S. Ancu. 2010. The planting substrate effects on some growth characteristics of seven blueberry cultivars. Bull. Univ. Agric. Sci. Vet. Med. Cluj-Napoca Hortic. 67:91-95.

Brown, J.C. and A.D. Draper. 1980. Differential response of blueberry (Vaccinium) progenies to pH and subsequent use of iron. J. Am. Soc. Hortic. Sci. 105:20-24.

Claussen, W. and F. Lenz. 1999. Effect of ammonium or nitrate nutrition on net photosynthesis, growth, and activity of the enzymes nitrate reductase and glutamine synthetase in blueberry, raspberry and strawberry. Plant Soil 208:95-102. 10.1023/A:1004543128899

Eck, P. and N.F. Childers. 1989. Blueberry culture. 4th ed. Rutgers University Press, New Brunswick, London.

Eck, P., R.E. Gough, I.V. Hall, and J.M. Spiers. 1990. Blueberry management. p. 273-301. In G.J. Galletta and D.G. Himelrick (eds.) Small fruit crop management. Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey.

Grajkowski, J., I. Ochman, and Z. Mulinski. 2007. Firmness and antioxidant capacity of highbush blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum L.) grown on three types of organic bed. Veg. Crops Res. Bull. 66:155-159. 10.2478/v10032-007-0017-5

Hall, I.V., L.E. Aalders, and L.R. Townsend. 1964. Nitrogen uptake in blueberry fields. Can. J. Plant Sci. 44:30-36. 10.4141/cjps64-084

Haynes, R.J. and R.S. Swift. 1985. Effects of soil acidification on the chemical extractability of Fe, Mn, Zn and Cu and the growth and micronutrient uptake of highbush blueberry plants. Plant and Soil 84:201-212. 10.1007/BF02143184

Jung, B.G., J.W. Choi, E.S. Yun, J.H. Yoon, and Y.H. Kim. 2001. Monitoring on chemical properties of bench marked upland soils in Korea. Korean J. Soil Sci. Fert. 34:326-332.

KBA. 2019. Blueberry newsletter. Korea Blueberry Association, Jangheung, Korea.

Kim, H.L., H.D. Kim, J.G. Kim, Y.B. Kwack, and Choi, Y.H. 2010. Effect of organic substrates mixture ratio on 2-year-old highbush blueberry growth and soil chemical properties. Korean J. Soil Sci. Fert. 43:858-863.

Korcak, R.F. 1988. Nutrition of blueberry and other calcifuges. Hortic. Rev. 10:183-227. 10.1002/9781118060834.ch6

RDA. 2002. Standard analysis of substrate. Rural Development Administration, Suwon, Korea.

RDA. 2020. Blueberry. Rural Development Administration, Wanju, Korea.

Retamales, J.B. and J.F. Hancock. 2012. Blueberries. p. 51-54. CABI Publishing, Wallingford, UK.

Shin, B.K., J.E. Son, and J.M. Choi. 2012. Physico·chemical properties of peatmoss and coir dust currently used as root medium components for crop production in Korean plant factories. J. Bio-Env. Con. 21:362-371. 10.12791/KSBEC.2012.21.4.362

Spiers, J.M. 1982. Fertilization, incorporated organic matter and early growth of rabbiteye blueberries. J. Am. Soc. Hortic. Sci. 107:1054-1058.

Spiers, J.M. 1986. Root distribution of ‘Tifblue’ rabbiteye blueberry as influenced by irrigation, incorporated peatmoss, and mulch. J. Am. Soc. Hortic. Sci. 111:877-880.

Starast, M., K. Karp, and T. Paal. 2002. The effect of using different mulches and growth substrates on half-highbush blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum × V. angustifolium) cultivars ‘Northblue’ and ‘Northcountry’. Acta Hortic. 574:281-286. 10.17660/ActaHortic.2002.574.42

Townsend, L.R. 1967. Effect of ammonium nitrogen and nitrate nitrogen, separately and in combination, on the growth of the highbush blueberry. Can. J. Plant Sci. 47:555-562. 10.4141/cjps67-097

Westwood, M.N. 1993. Temperate-zone pomology. p. 100-101. Timber Press, Portland, OR, USA.

Xie, Z.S. and X.C. Wu. 2009. Studies on substrates for blueberry cultivation. Acta Hortic. 810:513-520. 10.17660/ActaHortic.2009.810.68

Information

Publisher :Korean Society of Soil Science and Fertilizer
Publisher(Ko) :한국토양비료학회
Journal Title :Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
Journal Title(Ko) :한국토양비료학회 학회지
Volume : 54
No :3
Pages :331-337
Received Date : 2021-08-11
Revised Date : 2021-08-21
Accepted Date : 2021-08-25
DOI :https://doi.org/10.7745/KJSSF.2021.54.3.331

Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer ISSN:0367-6315(Print) 2288-2162(Online) 한국토양비료학회 학회지

All Issue