Relationship between Soil Management System and Cultivar in Black Currant (Ribes nigrum L.)

Abstract

This experiment evaluated the effect of soil management systems in a black currant planting on the generative potential (number of flowers per inflorescence, number of berries per cluster and yield per bush), physical attributes of the cluster and fruit (berry weight and cluster weight) and chemical properties of the fruit (soluble solids content, total sugars, titratable acidity, total anthocyanins, total phenolic content and vitamin C) of black currant cultivars. Three soil management systems were used: treatment I – bare fallow i.e. continuous tillage; treatment II – sawdust mulch, and treatment III – black polyethylene foil mulch. Four black currant cultivars were included - ‘Ben Lomond’, ‘Titania’, ‘Čačanska crna’ and ‘Tiben’. The soil management systems had a significant effect on the tested parameters. The cultivars also showed highly significant differences. Soil management system x cultivar interactions were observed for generative potential, and physical properties of the cluster and fruit, but not for fruit chemical traits, except in the soluble solids content.

Keywords

• black currant
• soil management systems
• generative potential
• productivity
• fruit quality