INFLUENCE OF SOIL PROPERTIES AND TOPOGRAPHIC FEATURES ON WILD BLUEBERRY FRUIT YIELD

摘要

Understanding the relationships between soil properties, topographic features, and their impact on fruit yield is an important component of site-specific nutrient management. This article presents research that investigates the relationship between soil properties and fruit yield to provide a better understanding of their variation with respect to change in slope within selected wild blueberry fields. Two wild blueberry fields were selected and completely randomized experiments were constructed at each site. The selected sites were divided into five slope categories: 0 < 5 degrees (Category 1), 5 degrees < 9 degrees (Category 2), 9 degrees < 13 degrees (Category 3), 13 degrees < 16 degrees (Category 4), and => 16 degrees (Category 5). Soil samples were collected from each slope category and analyzed for pH, texture, electrical conductivity (EC), soil organic matter (SOM), and inorganic nitrogen (NH4+-N, NO3--N). The slope, volumetric moisture content (theta v), and fruit yield data were also collected from each slope category. Soil variables, slope and fruit yield data were replicated ten times in each slope category.