A high percentage of agricultural production depends highly on groundwater irrigation. Groundwater depletion has been putting significant pressure on global water resources and food production. Using reclaimed water (RW) as an alternative source of irrigation water for crop production can mitigate the huge demand on groundwater resources. Blueberry plants are characterized by their preference for acidic soil conditions with a shallow, salt-sensitive root system. The alkaline and saline nature of RW necessitates an understanding of its suitability as irrigation water for blueberry production. We conducted a greenhouse rhizotron experiment to characterize root morphological responses of ‘Arcadia’ blueberry seedlings to RW. Four irrigation water treatments were implemented: 100% well water (WW), 100% deionized water (DW), a blend of 50% DW/50% RW, and 100% RW. These treatments were applied to rhizotron boxes filled with 50% sand and 50% pine bark mixed uniformly by volume. Root morphological variables, stem diameter, plant height, canopy projected area, and plant physiological variables were examined biweekly. Soil and plant tissue nutrient contents and plant biomass were examined at the end of the experiment. Water quality was slightly alkaline with pH values of 7.8 for 100% WW and 100% DW, and 7.7 for 100% RW. Electrical Conductivity (EC) values varied among the treatments, with 0.428 dS/m for 100% WW, 0.338 dS/m for 100% DW, and 0.769 dS/m for 100% RW. Initial soil mix pH at the beginning of the experiment was 6.8. Our preliminary findings indicate no significant difference in root elongation, plant above-ground biomass and leaf chlorophyll index among the four irrigation treatments (p > 0.05). A significant difference was observed between DW and WW for plant stem diameter and height (p > 0.05), possibly attributed to blueberry plants’ sensitivity to salt. The soil mix pH had risen to 7.8 for all the treatments at the end of the experiment. Our preliminary interpretation suggests that 100% RW does not adversely affect young blueberry plants growth parameter over the short-time period of the experiment. That indicates that RW can be a promising alternative of irrigation. Existing literature indicates that blueberry plants have the ability to adopt to irrigation water EC level of up to 2 dS/m, while the measured EC of 100% RW was 0.77 dS/m, it appears that the blueberry plants didn’t reach to the stress level that could significantly affect their growth parameters. We believe the experiment duration was insufficient to observe the high pH symptoms.
