Effect of irrigation on fruit production in blueberry

Abstract

This paper examines the response of highbush blueberry (Bluetta) to different levels of water application, from 20 to 133% of reference evapotranspiration, under microjet and drip irrigation over a period of 7 years, at the Agricultural Experiment Station of the University of Concepción in Chillán, Chile. The water requirement of blueberry is a function of canopy cover and type of irrigation method used. With drip and microjet irrigation, fruit yield increased monotonically with higher levels of water supply. During the first 2 years of harvest, plants under drip irrigation produced higher yields compared to those with the microjet system, at all levels of water application. However, in the fourth and subsequent season microjet surpassed drip irrigation. For the last season, a 7-year-old blueberry had the highest yield of 10,300 kg ha −1 for microjet irrigation, with a level of water replacement of 6200 m 3 ha −1, compared to 6800 kg ha −1 for drip irrigation with the same amount of water applied. Irrigation management as well as the method used to apply the water has an important effect on blueberry yield.