Articles
PRECOCITY, PLANT PRODUCTIVITY AND FRUIT QUALITY OF STRAWBERRY PLANTS GROWN IN SOIL AND SOILLESS CULTURE
The purpose of this study is to investigate the performance of the cultivars grown hydroponically regarding precocity, productivity, fruit quality and some vegetative characteristics which are correlated with them, in order to identify the most suitable cultivar for out-of-season production in soilless cultivation.
Cv.
Selva gave the highest marketable (259 g/plant) and total (315 g/plant) yield in soilless culture, while in soil the yield of this cultivar was significantly higher (382 g/plant and 467 g/plant, marketable and total yield, respectively). However, because of the higher plant density per stremma in the soilless culture, the estimated yield was about 6207 Kg/stremma marketable and 7571 Kg/stremma total yield, while in soil culture it was about 1915 Kg/stremma marketable and 2332 Kg/stremma total yield.
Cv.
Selva produced the larger fruits of extra (>20 g/fruit) and A (>14 g/fruit) categories, 53 % in soilless and 49 % in soil, while Cv.
Brighton produced more fruits of the B (>9 g/fruit) category (37 %) and only 30 % of E+A categories.
The greatest number of leaves, fresh and dry weight of plants was observed in cv.
Selva.
A decrease of leaf number, fresh and dry plant weight and crown number per plant was observed in the lower part of the vertical bags in the hydroponic cultivation.
Soluble solids content was greater in the fruits of cv.
Brighton (8.33) and firmness was higher in the fruits of cv.
Selva (1.31). Cultivation technique did not affect the fruit quality characteristics significantly.