THE OPTIMUM TEMPERATURE FOR LONG-SEASON CROPPING IN THE EVERBEARING STRAWBERRY ´EVEREST´

The prolonged season of everbearing strawberries causes vegetative growth and fruiting to coincide, so the influence of the environment on the balance of assimilate partitioning between vegetative and reproductive growth is important for optimised long-season production.
Fruiting patterns were evaluated over three seasons for the everbearing strawberry ‘Everest’. A range of temperatures (15 – 27°C) was studied in the first season to establish a temperature response curve.
Detailed transfer treat-ments in the second and third seasons gave insight into heat-induced cropping troughs (‘thermo-dormancy’). The detrimental effect on yield of thermo-dormancy was pre-vented by cool night-time temperature during the periods of heat stress, a treatment that resulted in the largest total fruit fresh weight and overall yield.
The highest yields were recorded for plants grown between 18 and 23°C. At higher temperatures fruit number increased, but fruit weight decreased.
The importance of night-time tempera-ture in optimising long-season fruit production has significance for commercial pro-duction, in which protected cropping tends to increase average temperature through the season.

V International Strawberry Symposium

A. Wagstaffe, N.H. Battey

Day-night temperature integral, thermo-dormancy, assimilate partitioning

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2006.708.2