Influence of Mulch Type and Fertilization System upon the Percentage of Fruits Set and Yield in Strawberry

Abstract

In recent years, organic strawberry culture is becoming more and more important butknowledge concerning best practice is still contradictory. Behavior of ten strawberry cultivars -‘Alba’, ‘Kimberly’, ‘Korona’, ‘Elliany’, ‘Elsanta’, ‘VimaZanta’, ‘Viktoriana’, ‘Virena’, ‘VimaXima’,‘Premial’ under three different types of mulch (agro-textile, 0,04 mm thick black polyethylene andstraw) and two fertilizer systems (poultry manure and liquid NPK 24:8:16, Mg 2.2%, S 2%, B 0.03%,Fe 0.1%, Mn 0.05% and Zn 0.025%) has been studied in climatic conditions from Cluj-Napoca,Romania in 2012. The control cultivar was ‘Premial’. Observation were made on number of trusses,number of flowers, percent of fruits set, and yield at end of first growing season. There were varietiesscattered compact trusses, with flowers arranged at or above the leaves. In the trusses, each flower issolitary or terminal and opens upward. The flowers are large, medium or small depending on thespecies and their position on the plant. The size of the fruit is related to the rank of the flower fromwhich the fruit developed. The best behavior in the experimental conditions proved ’Viktoriana’ and‘VimaXima’ because of their high productivity. It was noted that organic fertilization has a highinfluence on number of inflorescence ‘VimaXima’ and ‘Virena’ and the percentage of fruits set.