Predicting weed and lowbush blueberry biomass using the point intercept method

Lowbush blueberry is an important crop in Quebec, primarily in the Saguenay-Lac-St-Jean region. To properly evaluate the impact of agricultural practices on blueberry plant growth, destructive sampling of plants is required. A non-destructive method was developed to circumvent this problem. The method consists of identifying the plants (blueberry or other species) touching a point at each intercept point of a 1 m x 1 m grid (i.e. 100 points). This method has proven to be a simple and reliable technique for estimating fruit yield and aboveground biomass of blueberry and other plant species.