2026/05/11 by Amanda Lay-Walters, Amanda McWhirt · 1 voice
Agricultural and Biological Sciences · #Berry genetics and cultivation research #Plant Physiology and Cultivation Studies #Horticultural and Viticultural Research
paper · doi:10.21273/hortsci19386-26
openalex publication_date 2026/05/11 · openalex created_date 2026/05/12 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/11
Caneberry researchers have a growing interest in petiole nutrient sampling due to its ability to assess the actively transported nutrients in the plant. Other horticultural crops, such as strawberries and grapes, have established sufficiency ranges for petiole nutrients but are lacking in blackberries. In Clarksville, AR, USA, from 2022 to 2024, a planting of mature ‘Ouachita’ blackberry were fertilized with six annual N fertilizer rates (0, 34, 67, 101, 135, and 168 kg N·ha −1 ). Petiole samples were collected from both primocanes and floricanes every two weeks during the growing season and analyzed for NO 3 – concentration. Due to the location’s high soil N, deficiencies were not observed in plants fertilized with lower N fertilizer rates. Despite the large difference in N fertilizer rates applied, significant differences due to N fertilizer rate were not observed in NO 3 – concentration of floricane petioles. Primocane petiole NO 3 – concentration was observed to vary across N fertilizer rate. In the context of established N ranges, however, these differences were minimal, ranging from 1058 to 1193 mg·kg −1 . From the results of this study, petiole NO 3 – sampling does not currently appear to be a reliable method of assessing ‘Ouachita’ blackberry N status.