Soil health indicators for Central Washington Orchards

The objective of this study was to initiate the steps to develop a soil assessment tool for irrigated orchard soils in Central Washington, United States including defining objectives, gathering baseline data and selecting target indicators.
A total of 97 apple (Malus domestica) orchard fields were sampled in Washington, United States between 2015 and 2020. Of these plots there were 30 matched pairs (60 plots) on the same or similar soil type with matching cultivar/rootstock, tree age and training system type. One field in each pair was high performing and the other underperforming based on grower description. A subset of 32 plots (16 matched pairs) were sampled for fruit yield and fruit quality. […]