Comparative growth of blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum) cultivated in two different planting ridge heights against water-logging damage

摘要

Most of the blueberry cultivars grown in Korea are high bush blueberries [V. corymbosum). However, the soil does not seem suitable for these blueberries. In the Damyang province, many blueberry orchards are established on rice paddy fields (clay), soyoung blueberry bushes continuously die due to the poor drainage after rainfall. In order to correct this issue with previous planting systems, two kinds of planting bed systems were compared to improve water logging problem in clay soil. One is an 80-100 cm high ridge (HB) and the other is a 30-40 cm mid-high ridge (MB). The conversion to HB system has resulted in significantly lowered underground water level and soil moisture around bushes compared with MB. The bushes of HB developed 2.3 times longerand 3.2 times more shoots than those of MB in the following year. No death of blueberry bushes has happened in HB whereas 64.3% bushes of MB are still suffering from water logging such as reduced growth, withering and death. The average fruit size between HB and MB was similar (1.5 to 2.0 g berry1) but the yield was totally different between HB (2.8 kg bush1) and MB (0.8 kg bush1). This has resulted in 6.3 times higher yields in HB than MB. So, the result shows that the blueberry orchards in clay soil urgently need to convert from a low ridge to high ridge system.