2026-10-11T14:45:13Z https://api.figshare.com/v2/oai

oai:figshare.com:article/33945684 2026-09-20T16:27:02Z category_21 category_39 category_734 category_61 category_133 portal_87 item_type_3 month_year_09_2026

Evaluation of different growing media prepared from peat moss, coconut coir, pine bark, and vermicompost for soilless blueberry cultivation Mine Akman (25078071) İbrahim Erdal (25078074) Biotechnology Ecology Biological Sciences not elsewhere classified Developmental Biology Plant Biology Coconut coir fruit quality growing medium mineral nutrition peat moss perlite pine bark soilless culture Vaccinium corymbosum vermicompost <p>Blueberry (<i>Vaccinium corymbosum</i> L.) is highly sensitive to root-zone conditions because of its fibrous root system, and production has increasingly shifted toward container-based soilless systems. However, substrate formulations that provide suitable physicochemical balance for sustainable blueberry production remain insufficiently optimized. This study evaluated 16 substrate mixtures (v/v), prepared from peat moss (PM), coconut coir (CC), pine bark (B), and vermicompost (VC) in different proportions, with perlite (PE) fixed at 30%, for their effects on plant growth, yield, fruit quality, and mineral nutrition in container-grown ‘Duke’ blueberry over two seasons. In the vermicompost-containing mixtures, electrical conductivity (EC) and pH reached 2961 µS cm⁻¹ and 7.9, respectively, and all plants died during the first growing season. Pine bark-dominant GM15 had low water-holding capacity and produced the lowest yield (242 g plant⁻¹). In contrast, PM–CC–PE mixtures provided a more favorable root-zone balance. The highest yield (547 g plant⁻¹) and flower bud number (470 buds plant⁻¹) were obtained from 40% CC + 30% PM + 30% PE (GM12), while PM–CC mixtures also supported favorable fruit-quality traits. Leaf nutrient concentrations varied with substrate composition, whereas fruit macronutrient concentrations remained relatively stable. Among the tested mixtures, peat moss–coconut coir combinations with perlite showed the best overall performance for container-grown blueberry. In contrast, vermicompost-containing media were unsuitable at the tested proportions, while pine bark-dominant media limited performance because of less favorable physicochemical properties.</p> 2026-09-20T16:27:02Z Dataset Dataset 10.6084/m9.figshare.33945684.v1 https://figshare.com/articles/dataset/Evaluation_of_different_growing_media_prepared_from_peat_moss_coconut_coir_pine_bark_and_vermicompost_for_soilless_blueberry_cultivation/33945684 CC BY 4.0