Effects of picking methods on the berry production of bilberry (Vaccinium myrtillus), lingonberry (V. vitis-idaea) and crowberry (Empetrum nigrum ssp. hermaphroditum) in Northern Finland

Abstract

Effects of picking methods on the berry production of bilberry (Vaccinium myrtillus), lingonberry (V. vitis-idaea) and crowberry (Empetrum nigrum ssp. hermaphroditum) in Northern FinlandManninen O. H., Peltola R. (2013). Effects of picking methods on the berry production of bilberry (Vaccinium myrtillus), lingonberry (V. vitis-idaea) and crowberry (Empetrum nigrum ssp. hermaphroditum) in Northern Finland. Silva Fennica vol. 47 no. 3 article id 972. 12 p. Highlights• Berry production of bilberry, lingonberry and crowberry was studied after picking the berries by plastic hand rake, long-handed metal rake, and powerful picking by long-handed metal rake.• Berry production was not affected by the damage caused by any of the picking method.• Current commercial picking methods do not endanger the berry production of the berry species at least in short-term. AbstractThe effect of commercial wild berry picking on berry yields is under a strong public debate in Finland. Especially high concern has been arisen over damages caused by metal rakes used in commercial picking to subsequent berry production. We studied the berry production of bilberry (Vaccinium myrtillus L.), lingonberry (V. vitis-idaea L.) and crowberry (E. nigrum ssp. hermaphroditum (Hagerup) Böcher) after picking the berries by 1) plastic hand rake, 2) long-handed metal rake and 3) powerful picking by long-handed metal rake, in northern Finland during 2010-2012. In the powerful long-handed metal rake treatment the aboveground vegetation was raked twice to the moss layer after berry picking. Biomass, which was removed from the vegetation by rakes was collected and used as a measure of the damage. We assumed that picking by plastic hand rake would result in lowest, long-handed metal rake intermediate and powerful picking by longhanded metal rake highest biomass loss from vegetation. The amount of biomass loss should in turn be reversely reflected into berry production. However, only the powerful picking by longhanded metal rake removed higher amount of biomass than other picking methods in bilberry and lingonberry. In crowberry, the amount of biomass removed by rakes increased from treatment to treatment. Contrary to our assumption, berry production of bilberry, lingonberry and crowberry was not affected by the damage caused by any of the picking method. We conclude that long-handed metal rake used in commercial picking is comparable to hand rake in terms of berry production.

Continuous picking may increase bilberry yields

“…This is probably because a biomass loss decreases the reproductive units of plants (Salemaa et al 1999) or reduces the size of bilberry (Strengbom et al 2003;Hegland et al 2005), which induces the need for an allocation of resources to a vegetative recovery instead of sexual reproduction. However, a delay in berry production was not detected in the study by Manninen and Peltola (2013), in which about 1% of bilberry biomass was lost after intentionally powerful picking by rake.…”

“…Picking by plastic hand rake, commonly used in household and leisure picking, or picking by long-handed metal rake applied for more intensive purposes, did not diminish the bilberry fruit production in the following two years even when raking was applied intentionally by force (Manninen and Peltola 2013). However, in the study by Manninen and Peltola (2013), the picking treatment was applied only once which may not correspond to a practical utilization of wild berry yields, where the same areas may be under continuous picking pressure. In order to fill this gap in knowledge, we conducted an experiment to examine the effect of continuous bilberry picking on subsequent berry production.…”

Forest land use discontinuity and northern red oak Quercus rubra introduction change biomass allocation and life strategy of lingonberry Vaccinium vitis-idaea

“…The growing lingonberry market demand since the 1980's (Burt and Penhallegon 2003) favoured the development of V. vitis-idaea commercial plantations with selection and use of over twenty cultivars (Hjalmarsson and Ortis 2001;Debnath and McRae 2001;Penhallegon 2006). However, in Central and Northern Europe the most of lingonberries are still harvested in the wild (Seeland and Staniszewski 2007;Manninen and Peltola 2013).…”

“…in Poland (Zarzycki et al 2002), has been observed. At present not more than 10% of wild V. vitis-idaea resources are harvested in countries which are the main lingonberry producers and consumers (Manninen and Peltola 2013), and probably much less in the others, so overexploitation of wild populations is not the reason for decline of this species. Some studies show that the serious threat to Vaccinium species comes from the transformation of coniferous forest to mixed forests (Matuszkiewicz et al 2013;Turtiainen 2015;Woziwoda et al 2019).…”

Forest land use discontinuity and northern red oak Quercus rubra introduction change biomass allocation and life strategy of lingonberry Vaccinium vitis-idaea

“…in Poland (Zarzycki et al 2002), has been observed. At present not more than 10% of wild V. vitis-idaea resources are harvested in countries which are the main lingonberry producers and consumers (Manninen and Peltola 2013), and probably much less in the others, so overexploitation of wild populations is not the reason for decline of this species. Studies show that the serious threat to some Vaccinium species comes from the transformation of Scots pine forest to mixed forests (Matuszkiewicz et al 2013;Turtiainen 2015;Woziwoda et al 2019b).…”