• Journal of Bio-Environment Control
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.43-48
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• 2017

This experiment was conducted to test the suitability of various organic materials in order to reduce the use dependence of peatmoss as a soil pH regulator and to examine the effect of soil organic matter supply. A 2-year old northern-highbush blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum L.) 'Duke' plants were planted in the field at $2.0m{\times}2.5m$ spacing in spring. Before planting, organic materials were incorporated into the soil including the planting hole at 20 liter per plant, as the following mixtures: peatmoss only (20 L), peatmoss (10 L) + pine needle (10 L, PN), peatmoss (10 L) + rice hull (10 L, RH), and peatmoss (10 L) + sawdust (10 L, SD). The pH of organic materials was lowest in peatmoss (pH 4.3), followed by PN (pH 4.8), SD (pH 5.7) and RH (pH 7.8). Soil pH measured right after planting ranged from 5.3 to 5.9 and was lower in PM only and PM + PN than PM + RH and SD treatments. In the third year, the pH lowered to the range of 4.2 to 4.5, with PM and PM + PN still maintaining lower values. The early growth was good in the mixed treatment of PM and PN, and the plant height and width and the number of new shoots were good in the PM treatment. Soil water content was maintained highest in PM + PN, followed by PM, PM + SD and PM + RH. Vegetative growth was maintained better in PM and PM + PN, and the number of flower cluster and yield were also slightly higher in those treatments while mean fruit weight was similar among all treatments. Fruit quality indices such as total soluble solids, titratable acidity and firmness were not affected.