Elsevier

Scientia Horticulturae

Volume 302, 25 August 2022, 111149
Scientia Horticulturae

Effect of container size, substrate composition, and genotype on growth and fruit quality of young southern highbush blueberry in a container-based intensive production system

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scienta.2022.111149Get rights and content
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Highlights

  • Yield and fruit quality varied significantly by genotype.

  • Yields ranged from 0.4 kg/bush to 2.5 kg/bush in the first two years.

  • Substrate composition nor container size made a difference on vegetative or reproductive growth.

  • Yield and fruit quality was not affected by either substrate or container size.

  • Differences among genotypes indicated breeding for this intensive system might be needed.

Abstract

Southern highbush blueberry (SHB) production is continuing to expand worldwide. Innovative horticulture practices including container-based cultivation, evergreen management, high-density planting, and high-tunnel production have been explored to maximize the productivity and profitability of SHB production. However, there is a lack of information on the feasibility of integration of all these practices to establish an intensive production system in Florida. We aimed to test and optimize this intensive system by evaluating container size, substrate composition, and genotype. Two container sizes (50.5 L and 40.4 L), five different combinations of pine bark, coco coir, and perlite, and five SHB genotypes were tested in this study. Plant vegetative growth, yield, and berry quality were measured for two years. There were no impacts of substrate composition and container size on vegetative or reproductive growth during the two-year production period studied. Plant height and canopy width varied among genotypes due to their canopy architecture. Yields of each genotype ranged from 1.0 kg/bush to 2.5 kg/bush in the first year and ranged from 0.4 kg/bush to 2.1 kg/bush in the second year. Significant differences in the performance of five genotypes tested in this study indicated that is necessary to breed cultivars specifically for this intensive system.

Keywords

Soilless substrate
Container production
Evergreen
High density
High tunnel

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