Environmental control of flowering and runnering in three contrasting populations of Fragaria chiloensis

Abstract

SummaryEnvironmental control of flowering and runnering in three contrasting Fragaria chiloensis populations with geographic origins in Alaska, Oregon, and Chile have been studied under controlled environment conditions. All populations were principal short-day (SD) plants at intermediate temperatures (15°C or 21°C), while at low temperature (9°C) the ‘Alaska’ and ‘Chile’ populations were essentially day neutral. However, the populations had contrasting temperature responses for flowering in SD at both constant and fluctuating day/night temperatures. At a day temperature of 18°C, flowering increased with increasing night temperature from 9°C to 21°C in the ‘Alaska’ population, while the opposite trend was observed in the ‘Chile’ population. The sparsely flowering ‘Oregon’ population flowered only in SD within a narrow range of temperatures (15° – 18°C). Photoperiod (10, 16, or 20 h) had no effect on flower development at 18°C. All populations were runnering freely, but with different temperature and photoperiod modifications. It is concluded that the SD × temperature interaction in the flowering behaviour of the June-bearing cultivated strawberry, F. × ananassa, is inherited to a large extent from F. chiloensis, whereas the species does not appear to have contributed to the long-day (LD) flowering control in everbearing cultivars.