The Effect of the Growing Media and Planting Distances on the Growth and Yield of Strawberry (Fragaria ananassa Duch.) Grown in Plastic Tubes

Abstract

This study is conducted in the unheated greenhouse of the Department of Horticulture and Landscape - College of Agriculture - Tikrit University during the two seasons 2020-2021. It aims to know the effect of growth medium and planting distances on growth and yield of three varieties of strawberry with a diameter of 6 inches. The study includes three factors, the first factor is media at three levels which are the loamy soil only, the loamy soil + peat moss and peat moss only, The second factor is planting distances which include three distances, 15, 20 and 25 cm between one plant and another, The third factor is the varieties which include three varieties, namely Camarosa, Sweet Charlie and Ruby gem. The experiment is implemented by designing randomized complete sectors according to the split-split plot design with three replicates, each replicate containing three tubes with a diameter of 6 inches, length of each tube 6 meters and each tube containing three experimental units. Thus, each replicate contains 9 experimental units with a length of 2 meters, the growth medium was set in the main plots and the planting distances in the sub-plots, while the cultivars took the sub-sub-plots The most important results can be summarized as follows: Peat moss is significantly superior in the characteristics of average number of leaves, leaf area, average number of flowers, total soluble solids, and total acidity, amounting to 21.95 leaf plant-1, 753.6 cm2, 20.22 flower plant-1, 9.119 and 1.335%, respectively. Ruby gem variety significantly outperformed in the characteristics of average number of leaves, leaf area, average number of flowers, and total soluble solids percentage, amounting to 19.65 leaf plant-1, 594.6 cm2, 20.22 flower plant-1 and 8.537%, respectively; while the verities have not differed significantly among themselves in the total acidity ratio. The distance D3 is significantly superior in the average number of leaves and leaf area, amounting to 18.73 leaf plant-1, 577.2 cm2. On the other hand, the distance D2 is superior in the two characteristics, namely the average number of flowers and the percentage of total soluble solids amounting to 19.70 flower plant-1 and 8.156%, while no significant differences are observed in the characteristic of the total acidity percentage.