Effect of vegetation control and nitrogen fertilization in red raspberry

• Published in: Acta horticulturae no. 5852; pp. 579 - 583
• Main Author: Heiberg, N
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: International Society for Horticultural Science 2002
• Subjects: cultivars; fertigation; field experimentation; growth and development; herbicides; leaves; microirrigation; nitrogen; nitrogen fertilizers; plastic film mulches; raspberries; soil; vegetation cover; vegetative growth
• ISSN: 0567-7572

The effects of vegetation control and additional nitrogen fertilizing were studied in a field experiment with the cultivar 'Veten'. The management system included black plastic mulch (1 m width) in row and fertigation through trickle irrigation. The experiment used a factorial design with two factors and two replicates. Factor A at 3 levels of fertilization, equal to: 11.9, 39.9 and 53.5 kg N/1000 m row. Factor B included 3 levels of vegetation control in the inter-row area: vegetation between rows; herbicide treatment of 0.5 m on each side of the soil cover and vegetation in the middle; and herbicide treatment in all the inter-row area. Vegetation control increased N and K concentration in leaves, and resulted in enhanced vegetative growth and higher berry yield. This indicates strong competition between raspberries and inter-row vegetation. Compared to plots with vegetation in the inter-row area, the yield increase was 9 % with 0.5 m without vegetation on each side of the row, and 17 % when vegetation was controlled in the whole plot. Additional fertilizing above 11.9 kg N/1000 m increased N-content in leaves, but had only small influence on vegetative growth and berry-yield. This indicates that other factors than N-content in the raspberry plants were restricting growth and development.