increased nitrogen.Over three years, the plots produced 19,000 kgwithout nitrogen, 22,000 kg at 50 and 100 percent of recommended nitrogen, and 26,000 kg at 150 percent of recommended application.While there was no improvement in fruit size or sweetness, fruitwas firmer and less acidicwith nitrogen application. A comparison of the broadcast and
fertigated nitrogen applications shows that it pays to get the nutrients to the right place. “At the same level of nitrogen,we got
better yieldwhen it nitrogenwas fertigated—an increase of 17 percent when accumulated over three years,” says Ehret. Fertigation delivers dissolved fertilizer
to crops through an irrigation system. The technique is gaining popularitywith growers because it increases nutrient absorption by plants and therefore reduces the amount of fertilizer that is needed,which could translate to reduced nutrient leaching into thewater table. It also reduces labour costs for fertilizer application. By comparing nitrogen levels in the
soil and sawdust around the blueberry plants at the beginning and end of the
growing season, the research team found that fertigation does a better job of putting the nitrogenwhere it’s needed. “Broadcast application had higher nitrogen in the sawdust than fertigated
in both June and September,” says Ehret. “This suggests that a lot of the broadcast nitrogenwas unavailable to the plant through the growing season, and could explain the better production with fertigation.”
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British Columbia Berry Grower • Winter 2013-14 13
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