Cranberry production is not reduced by reducing irrigation water by 40%
A study carried out by the Institute of Agriculture and Fisheries Research and Training (IFAPA) has confirmed that a certain production of cranberry can be maintained in its first year by reducing the amount of water destined for irrigation by 40% and without this saving the quality of the product.
This is the work 'Effect of irrigation on the production of a blueberry crop in the first year of planting', co-financed by the project "Sustainable management of irrigation in intensive agriculture in Andalusia" (RTA2015-00029-C02-01) .
The study, to which Efe has had access, collects the conclusions of an essay that was carried out on a blueberry crop planted in January of 2017, in a farm in Almonte (Huelva), extending between June of 2017 and May of 2018, after of the first harvest.
It is based on the assumption that an adequate irrigation in bilberry cultivation is critical to obtain high yields and good quality of the fruit and it is developed in Huelva, province in which in the last five years the area destined for cranberry has increased 250 percent.
The culture in which the test was developed was subjected to four irrigation treatments: the first (T1) received an 100% of the water required according to technical criteria; the second (T2), an 80 percent; the third (T3), an 120 percent of the irrigation required, while the T4 control treatment received the irrigation according to the traditional criterion of the farm.
In this way the quantities of water received per hectare varied between 5.722 m3 / ha from T2 and 9.468 m3 / ha T4; In addition, the different volumes of water applied to each treatment produced savings of 28% (T1), 16% (T3) and 40% (T2) with respect to the control treatment (T4).
In spite of this, there were no significant differences in the production of first fruit among the four treatments tested, since the productions varied between the 15.921 kg / ha (3.587 g / plant) of the T1 and the 16.848 (3.796 g / plant) of the T3.
It can be affirmed, therefore, that an irrigation of 5.700 m3 / ha, which represents a water saving of 40%, would have been sufficient, during the first year of planting, to obtain an equal production of blueberry.
Finally, it is indicated that the quality parameters of the fruit, such as the average weight of the fruit (2.58 g), the average percentage of fruits greater than 16 mm (88,2%) and the Brix degrees (between 12.1 and 12.7), are not they were affected by the reduction of irrigation.
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