Articles
CURRENT AND FUTURE USAGE OF MICROPROPAGATED STRAWBERRY PLUG TRANSPLANTS IN EGYPT
Article number
513_46
Pages
389 – 392
Language
Abstract
Strawberry production in Egypt has considerable growth potential.
However, 95% of the industry is mostly based on later season (February onwards) harvest from frigo plants.
In order to capture higher export prices, growers will have to be able to harvest significant volumes from late November to January.
This will only be possible by changing from traditional frigo transplants to fresh transplants or plugs.
Fresh plants in vegetative activity can be dug in late September to early October but have to be set out as early as possible.
They are difficult to handle and require specific techniques.
In a preliminary trial to produce plug transplants, parent plants were grown in a nursery field from May to August for runner production.
Semi-rooted runners were picked off and transplanted in different containers and substrates.
Percent survival and rooting were 95% but 25% of the resulting plants showed insect and disease symptoms typical of their field-grown parents.
In a second trial, the first generation of fully acclimatized micropropagated ‘Selva’ plants were used as parents and grown in soil-less media either in elevated greenhouse boxes (6m2) or in hanging black plastic tubes 1.5 m long and 0.2 m diameter.
Both systems produced large numbers of healthy runner plants.
Plug transplants were successfully produced from those runners in experiments utilizing different substrates and container volumes under greenhouse conditions.
The best plugs were those raised in 150 cm3 pots filled with peat + vermiculite + perlite.
Under field conditions, micropropagated plugs of the latter system produced 50% of their total fruit yield early in the season, from late November to February compared with 35% for fresh bare-root dugs transplants.
However, 95% of the industry is mostly based on later season (February onwards) harvest from frigo plants.
In order to capture higher export prices, growers will have to be able to harvest significant volumes from late November to January.
This will only be possible by changing from traditional frigo transplants to fresh transplants or plugs.
Fresh plants in vegetative activity can be dug in late September to early October but have to be set out as early as possible.
They are difficult to handle and require specific techniques.
In a preliminary trial to produce plug transplants, parent plants were grown in a nursery field from May to August for runner production.
Semi-rooted runners were picked off and transplanted in different containers and substrates.
Percent survival and rooting were 95% but 25% of the resulting plants showed insect and disease symptoms typical of their field-grown parents.
In a second trial, the first generation of fully acclimatized micropropagated ‘Selva’ plants were used as parents and grown in soil-less media either in elevated greenhouse boxes (6m2) or in hanging black plastic tubes 1.5 m long and 0.2 m diameter.
Both systems produced large numbers of healthy runner plants.
Plug transplants were successfully produced from those runners in experiments utilizing different substrates and container volumes under greenhouse conditions.
The best plugs were those raised in 150 cm3 pots filled with peat + vermiculite + perlite.
Under field conditions, micropropagated plugs of the latter system produced 50% of their total fruit yield early in the season, from late November to February compared with 35% for fresh bare-root dugs transplants.
Authors
F.H. Mohamed
Keywords
Fragaria x ananassa, runners, containers, tissue culture
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