| Summary: | Haskap (Lonicera caerulea) is a new crop for much of the world including Canada. This study investigated Haskap’s autecological conditions in three habitats in Saskatchewan and utilized some of that information to design greenhouse experiments to better understand environmental and soil interactions for this crop. The hypothesis of this study was that environmental factors associated with the growth of wild Haskap and greenhouse studies with the cultivar ‘Tundra’ could improve the production practices of cultivated Haskap. This thesis may be the first study to investigate L.c. autecology, pH levels in hydroponics and greenhouse fruit production. Average in situ shoot growth of L.c. ssp. villosa varied significantly among the study areas. The site with peat/organic soil had greater macronutrient levels and greater shoot growth compared to the two sites with forest Luvisol soil. The site with organic soil had soil temperatures with a daily average of 4.0-12.9°C, air temperatures 8.1-19.4°C, relative humidity 58.6-91.3% and rainfall averages of 80 mm during May to July. Seven L.c. subspecies and the cultivar ‘Tundra’ were grown hydroponically in pH levels ranging from 5 to 9. Dry weights of leaves, stems and roots were measured. The influence of pH on growth was significant for all genotypes with each genotype having the highest dry weights at pH 6 and the lowest at pH 9. Subspecies stenantha and ‘Tundra’ had significantly greater growth than the other genotypes. Two-year-old ‘Tundra’ seedlings fertilized with a higher rate of N, P, K (1762.5, 334.5 and 403.5 mg/kg respectively) was significantly higher with a total dry weight of 38.27 g per plant compared to the 24.11 g per plant of the control. It was demonstrated that ‘Tundra’ and Japanese originated seedlings could produce fruit in a winter and spring greenhouse. Compared to field studies, ‘Tundra’ fruit was a bit smaller in size, but soluble solids and acidity levels were similar. Lower temperatures and use of bumble bees as pollinators were factors ...
|
|---|