| Title | Negative impacts of warming on the nutritional quality of wild blueberries: mulch and biochar-compost mix as mitigation techniques |
| Author | Alaba, Oluwafemi A. |
| Publication | FRUIT RESEARCH |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 5 |
| Corresponding Author | Zhang, YJ |
| Abstract | Climate change poses threats to the yield and nutritional quality of crops, and effective mitigation strategies are needed. Management practices such as mulching, biochar, and compost offer potential solutions. The objectives of this study were to characterize the effect of warming on the fruit chemistry and nutritional quality of wild blueberry (Vaccinium angustifolium Aiton), as well as to determine the efficacy of biochar-compost mix and mulching in mitigating the warming effect. Thus, six wild blueberry clones were subjected to five treatments: ambient control, ambient control with biochar-compost mix, warming, warming with softwood bark mulch, and warming with biochar-compost mix. Warming negatively impacted fruit nutritional quality, resulting in significant decreases in total soluble solids (similar to 5%), total anthocyanin content (similar to 23%), total phenolic content (similar to 20%), and FRAP antioxidant activity (similar to 19%) under active heating compared to the control. Total soluble protein levels were significantly reduced (similar to 30%) when warming combined with biochar was compared with the biochar control. Neither the biochar-compost mix nor mulching substantially alleviated these adverse effects, except for modest improvements in potassium and magnesium concentrations. Additionally, berry size was negatively associated with total soluble solids, organic acids, and secondary metabolites. Our findings confirm the negative effect of warming on the nutritional quality of these nutrient-dense berries and suggest that the soil amendments of softwood mulch and biochar-compost mix (at the rates tested) were insufficient to counteract the detrimental effects of warming. Future research could explore higher application rates and alternative techniques, such as foliar fertilizers, to enhance the resilience of wild blueberries under global warming. |
