INFLUENCE OF NACL SALINITY STRESS ON FRUIT QUALITY IN STRAWBERRY

     The present investigation was aimed at assessing the response of ‘Elsanta’ and ‘Korona’ strawberry plants to three levels (0, 40 and 80 meq/L) of NaCl-salinity stress and to describe salt effects on fruit quality.
The investigated cultivars differed in their sensitivity to NaCl salinity.
Typical stress symptoms such as leaf necroses, growth retardation and a poor fruit yield were observed in both cultivars, but ‘Elsanta’ was more sensitive than ‘Korona’. In both cultivars, salt stress lowered the concentration of titratable acids in the fruit.
In ‘Elsanta’, the content of soluble solids was reduced, while that of proteins increased.
Vitamin C and E contents of fruits remained fairly stable as did relative dry matter in both cultivars.