Pre-plant crop rotation and compost amendments for improving establishment of red raspberry

Abstract

Three crop rotation treatments: (1) a sorghum x sudangrass hybrid (Sudex) and rapeseed, (2) a conventional corn-barley rotation, and (3) a corn-barley rotation followed by preplant compost amendment, were compared for alleviating replant problems on a field with a long history of perennial fruit crops. A raspberry selection trial was planted in each treatment, and initial raspberry survival and growth over two seasons was measured to compare the efficacy of these pre-plant treatments. The initial survival and growth of raspberry plants in the Sudex-rapeseed treatment was similar to that of the corn-barley treatment. However, the corn-barley-compost treatment significantly improved raspberry growth and survival. At the conclusion of the experiment, root samples from two raspberry cultivars were assayed for root-disease associated fungi. Isolates of fast-growing fungi (Cylindrocarpon, Fusarium, Pythium, and Khizoctonia) were found at low frequencies, but there were no significant differences in their occurrence among pre-plant treatments.