Abstract
A systems trial was established in Oct. 2006 to evaluate management practices for organic production of northern highbush blueberry ( Vaccinium corymbosum L.). The practices included: flat and raised planting beds; feather meal and fish emulsion fertilizer each applied at rates of 29 and 57 kg·ha −1 nitrogen (N); sawdust mulch, compost topped with sawdust mulch (compost + sawdust), or weed mat; and two cultivars, Duke and Liberty. Each treatment was irrigated by drip and weeds were controlled as needed. The planting was certified organic in 2008. After one growing season, allocation of biomass to the roots was greater when plants were grown on raised beds than on flat beds, mulched with organic mulch rather than a weed mat, and fertilized with the lower rate of N. Plants also allocated more biomass belowground when fertilized with feather meal than with fish emulsion. Although fish emulsion improved growth relative to feather meal in the establishment year, this was not the case the next year when feather meal was applied earlier. After two seasons, total plant dry weight (DW) was generally greater on raised beds than on flat beds, but the difference varied depending on fertilizer and the type of mulch used. Shoots and leaves accounted for 60% to 77% of total plant biomass, whereas roots accounted for 7% to 19% and fruit accounted for 4% to 18%. Plants produced 33% higher yield when grown on raised beds than on flat beds and had 36% higher yield with weed mat than with sawdust mulch. Yield was also higher when plants were fertilized with the low rate of fish emulsion than with any other fertilizer treatment in ‘Duke’ but was unaffected by fertilizer source or rate in ‘Liberty’. Although raised beds and sawdust or sawdust + compost produced the largest total plant DW, the greatest shoot growth and yield occurred when plants were mulched with weed mat or compost + sawdust on raised beds in both cultivars. The impact of these organic production practices on root development may affect the sustainability of these production systems over time, however, because plants with lower root-to-shoot ratios may be more sensitive to cultural or environmental stresses.
Abstract from the paper’s OpenAlex record, shown for indexing and research. Copyright remains with the authors or the publisher. Read at the source ↗
The text the model read, with the source record’s inline markup (italics, sub- and superscripts) rendered and its character entities decoded; quote offsets refer to the raw text.
Claims 16
Claim · model-written summary
Raised beds increased blueberry root biomass allocation after one season.
- Taxon
- northern highbush blueberry
Vaccinium corymbosume1 - Treatment
- raised bedse0
- Outcome
- allocation of biomass to the rootse0
- Direction
- greatere0
- Comparator
- flat bedse0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“allocation of biomass to the roots was greater when plants were grown on raised beds than on flat beds”
e1“northern highbush blueberry”
Claim · model-written summary
Organic mulch increased blueberry root biomass allocation compared with weed mat.
- Taxon
- northern highbush blueberryVaccinium corymbosume2
- Treatment
- organic mulche0
- Outcome
- allocation of biomass to the rootse1
- Direction
- greatere1
- Comparator
- weed mate0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“mulched with organic mulch rather than a weed mat”
e1“allocation of biomass to the roots was greater when plants were grown on raised beds than on flat beds, mulched with organic mulch rather than a weed mat, and fertilized with the lower rate of N.”
e2“northern highbush blueberry”
Claim · model-written summary
Lower nitrogen rate increased blueberry root biomass allocation.
- Taxon
- northern highbush blueberryVaccinium corymbosume1
- Treatment
- lower rate of Ne0
- Outcome
- allocation of biomass to the rootse0
- Direction
- greatere0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“allocation of biomass to the roots was greater when plants were grown on raised beds than on flat beds, mulched with organic mulch rather than a weed mat, and fertilized with the lower rate of N.”
e1“northern highbush blueberry”
Claim · model-written summary
Feather meal increased belowground biomass allocation relative to fish emulsion.
- Taxon
- northern highbush blueberryVaccinium corymbosume1
- Treatment
- feather meale0
- Outcome
- biomass belowgrounde0
- Direction
- moree0
- Comparator
- fish emulsione0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Plants also allocated more biomass belowground when fertilized with feather meal than with fish emulsion.”
e1“northern highbush blueberry”
Claim · model-written summary
Fish emulsion improved blueberry growth relative to feather meal in the establishment year.
- Taxon
- northern highbush blueberryVaccinium corymbosume1
- Treatment
- fish emulsione0
- Outcome
- growthe0
- Direction
- improvede0
- Qualifier
- in the establishment yeare0
- Comparator
- feather meale0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“fish emulsion improved growth relative to feather meal in the establishment year”
e1“northern highbush blueberry”
Claim · model-written summary
Fish emulsion did not improve blueberry growth relative to feather meal the following year.
- Taxon
- northern highbush blueberryVaccinium corymbosume1
- Treatment
- fish emulsione0
- Outcome
- growthe0
- Direction
- no_changeinferrede0
- Qualifier
- the next year when feather meal was applied earliere0
- Comparator
- feather meale0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Although fish emulsion improved growth relative to feather meal in the establishment year, this was not the case the next year when feather meal was applied earlier.”
e1“northern highbush blueberry”
Claim · model-written summary
Raised beds generally increased blueberry total dry weight after two seasons, depending on fertilizer and mulch.
- Taxon
- northern highbush blueberryVaccinium corymbosume1
- Treatment
- raised bedse0
- Outcome
- total plant dry weight (DW)e0
- Direction
- greatere0
- Qualifier
- depending on fertilizer and the type of mulch usede0
- Comparator
- flat bedse0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“After two seasons, total plant dry weight (DW) was generally greater on raised beds than on flat beds, but the difference varied depending on fertilizer and the type of mulch used.”
e1“northern highbush blueberry”
Claim · model-written summary
Shoots and leaves made up 60% to 77% of blueberry biomass.
- Taxon
- northern highbush blueberryVaccinium corymbosume1
- Organ / stage
- Shoots and leavese0
- Outcome
- total plant biomasse0
- Value
- 60% to 77%e0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Shoots and leaves accounted for 60% to 77% of total plant biomass”
e1“northern highbush blueberry”
Claim · model-written summary
Roots made up 7% to 19% of blueberry biomass.
- Taxon
- northern highbush blueberryVaccinium corymbosume1
- Organ / stage
- rootse0
- Outcome
- roots accounted for 7% to 19%e0
- Value
- 7% to 19%e0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“roots accounted for 7% to 19%”
e1“northern highbush blueberry”
Claim · model-written summary
Fruit made up 4% to 18% of blueberry biomass.
- Taxon
- northern highbush blueberryVaccinium corymbosume1
- Organ / stage
- fruite0
- Outcome
- fruit accounted for 4% to 18%e0
- Value
- 4% to 18%e0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“fruit accounted for 4% to 18%”
e1“northern highbush blueberry”
Claim · model-written summary
Raised beds increased blueberry yield by 33% relative to flat beds.
- Taxon
- northern highbush blueberryVaccinium corymbosume1
- Treatment
- raised bedse0
- Outcome
- yielde0
- Direction
- highere0
- Value
- 33%e0
- Comparator
- flat bedse0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Plants produced 33% higher yield when grown on raised beds than on flat beds”
e1“northern highbush blueberry”
Claim · model-written summary
Weed mat increased blueberry yield by 36% relative to sawdust mulch.
- Taxon
- northern highbush blueberryVaccinium corymbosume1
- Treatment
- weed mate0
- Outcome
- yielde0
- Direction
- highere0
- Value
- 36%e0
- Comparator
- sawdust mulche0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“36% higher yield with weed mat than with sawdust mulch”
e1“northern highbush blueberry”
Claim · model-written summary
In Duke, a low rate of fish emulsion gave higher yield than other fertilizer treatments.
- Taxon
- northern highbush blueberryVaccinium corymbosume1
- Material
- Dukee0
- Treatment
- low rate of fish emulsione0
- Outcome
- Yielde0
- Direction
- highere0
- Comparator
- any other fertilizer treatmente0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Yield was also higher when plants were fertilized with the low rate of fish emulsion than with any other fertilizer treatment in ‘Duke’”
e1“northern highbush blueberry”
Claim · model-written summary
Raised beds with sawdust or sawdust plus compost produced the largest blueberry total dry weight.
- Taxon
- northern highbush blueberryVaccinium corymbosume1
- Treatment
- raised beds and sawdust or sawdust + composte0
- Outcome
- total plant DWe0
- Direction
- largeste0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“raised beds and sawdust or sawdust + compost produced the largest total plant DW”
e1“northern highbush blueberry”
Claim · model-written summary
Weed mat or compost plus sawdust on raised beds produced the greatest blueberry shoot growth.
- Taxon
- northern highbush blueberryVaccinium corymbosume1
- Treatment
- weed mat or compost + sawdust on raised bedse0
- Outcome
- shoot growthe0
- Direction
- greateste0
- Qualifier
- in both cultivarse0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“the greatest shoot growth and yield occurred when plants were mulched with weed mat or compost + sawdust on raised beds in both cultivars”
e1“northern highbush blueberry”
Claim · model-written summary
Weed mat or compost plus sawdust on raised beds produced the greatest blueberry yield.
- Taxon
- northern highbush blueberryVaccinium corymbosume1
- Treatment
- weed mat or compost + sawdust on raised bedse0
- Outcome
- yielde0
- Direction
- greateste0
- Qualifier
- in both cultivarse0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“the greatest shoot growth and yield occurred when plants were mulched with weed mat or compost + sawdust on raised beds in both cultivars”
e1“northern highbush blueberry”
The same questions in other papers
growing medium · yield · Vaccinium corymbosum (highbush blueberry)Positive and negative results
8 papers in the same direction as this paper · 2 in the opposite direction
- positive
- positive
- positive
7 papers more in this group
See all 11 papers →fertilization · growth · Vaccinium corymbosum (highbush blueberry)Positive and negative results
11 papers in the same direction as this paper · 4 in the opposite direction
- no effect
- negative
- no effect
12 papers more in this group
See all 16 papers →growing medium · growth · Vaccinium corymbosum (highbush blueberry)Positive and negative results
13 papers in the same direction as this paper · 3 in the opposite direction
- no effect
- negative
- no effect
13 papers more in this group
See all 17 papers →fertilization · yield · Vaccinium corymbosum (highbush blueberry)Positive and negative results
21 papers in the same direction as this paper · 2 in the opposite direction
- positive
- positive
- positive
20 papers more in this group
See all 24 papers →tillage · yield · Vaccinium corymbosum (highbush blueberry)Results agree
1 paper in the same direction as this paper
- positive
Claims are grouped by organism, treatment and what was measured or targeted. A paper counts as positive when any of its claims in the group is positive.