Articles
EFFECT OF ORGANIC MULCHING ON GROWTH AND YIELD OF RASPBERRY CV. HERITAGE
Article number
777_72
Pages
473 – 476
Language
English
Abstract
Mulching to control weeds is frequently used in organic production; however, the mulching material could affect the crop.
The objective of this research was to evaluate the effect of different plant materials, coming from agriculture and forest industry, as mulching on raspberry growth and yield.
There were four mulch treatments: pine bark, pine sawdust, wheat straw and rice hull; plus two controls: bare soil without weeds (hand-weeded) and bare soil with weeds (weedy check). Mulches were distributed on the rows of raspberry plants and were 1 m width and 10 cm deep.
Experimental design was a randomized complete block with four replicates, and the experimental unit was a 3 m long row.
Treatments were applied during two seasons, in September 2003 and in August 2004, in an 8 year old organic orchard of raspberry Heritage, located at the Bio Bio region, Chile.
The number and height of suckers, number of laterals in the floricane and yield were evaluated in the central meter of each row and only during the second season.
Number of suckers in hand-weeded and weedy check was higher than in the other treatments, except for the pine sawdust mulching.
The wheat straw mulching had the lowest number of suckers, only 10 suckers m-1, in contrast to the weedy check that had
38 m-1. The hand-weeded control had the tallest suckers (79 cm) and the smallest ones were in the wheat straw mulching (40.5 cm), which was significantly lower than all other treatments (P≤ 0.05). Number of laterals per stalk (10 in average) was not affected by treatments.
The lowest fruit yield in the first harvest was obtained in the pine bark mulching treatment (2.64 t ha-1), which only differed from the pine sawdust mulching (3.69 t ha-1). In the primocane harvest the lowest yield was in the wheat straw mulching treatment (4.3 t ha-1), but it only differed from the rice hull mulching treatment (5.96 t ha-1). When summing both harvests, floricane and primocane the highest yield was in the pine sawdust treatment (9.07 t ha-1) and lowest on the wheat straw mulching (7.82 t ha-1), but they were not significantly different (P≤ 0.05). We conclude that wheat straw mulching affected raspberry plant growth and therefore it is not recommended.
The objective of this research was to evaluate the effect of different plant materials, coming from agriculture and forest industry, as mulching on raspberry growth and yield.
There were four mulch treatments: pine bark, pine sawdust, wheat straw and rice hull; plus two controls: bare soil without weeds (hand-weeded) and bare soil with weeds (weedy check). Mulches were distributed on the rows of raspberry plants and were 1 m width and 10 cm deep.
Experimental design was a randomized complete block with four replicates, and the experimental unit was a 3 m long row.
Treatments were applied during two seasons, in September 2003 and in August 2004, in an 8 year old organic orchard of raspberry Heritage, located at the Bio Bio region, Chile.
The number and height of suckers, number of laterals in the floricane and yield were evaluated in the central meter of each row and only during the second season.
Number of suckers in hand-weeded and weedy check was higher than in the other treatments, except for the pine sawdust mulching.
The wheat straw mulching had the lowest number of suckers, only 10 suckers m-1, in contrast to the weedy check that had
38 m-1. The hand-weeded control had the tallest suckers (79 cm) and the smallest ones were in the wheat straw mulching (40.5 cm), which was significantly lower than all other treatments (P≤ 0.05). Number of laterals per stalk (10 in average) was not affected by treatments.
The lowest fruit yield in the first harvest was obtained in the pine bark mulching treatment (2.64 t ha-1), which only differed from the pine sawdust mulching (3.69 t ha-1). In the primocane harvest the lowest yield was in the wheat straw mulching treatment (4.3 t ha-1), but it only differed from the rice hull mulching treatment (5.96 t ha-1). When summing both harvests, floricane and primocane the highest yield was in the pine sawdust treatment (9.07 t ha-1) and lowest on the wheat straw mulching (7.82 t ha-1), but they were not significantly different (P≤ 0.05). We conclude that wheat straw mulching affected raspberry plant growth and therefore it is not recommended.
Publication
Authors
A. Pedreros, M.I. González, V. Manosalva
Keywords
Rubus idaeus, pine bark, wheat straw, rice hull, pine sawdust
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