Abstract
ABSTRACT Strawberry plant yields improve if they accumulate a certain number of cold hours, which does not occur naturally under tropical and subtropical climatic conditions. This study evaluated the agronomic characteristics of potted transplants from 14 strawberry genotypes that had been subjected to vernalization treatment prior to planting in the field. The transplants were stored in a cold chamber at 5°C for 576 h. The genotypes used in the experiment were Camino Real, Festival, Florida Eliane, Sweet Charliefp, Sweet Charlie, Dover, IAC Guaraní, Corea, Early Bright, and hybrid clones Dover × Rosalinda1 Dover × Rosalinda4, Dover × Oso Grande, Dover × Esplendida, and Dover × Aichi. The 14 genotypes in the control group received no vernalization treatment. Each experimental unit consisted of 15 plants. A randomized complete blocks experimental design was used with a 14 × 2 factorial arrangement and three repetitions. Subjecting the strawberry transplants to the vernalization treatment had a significant effect on the total number of fruits per plant and total and commercial yield of fruits per plant, but there was no significant interaction between the factors and the evaluated yield and growth characteristics. Dover × Oso Grande, Florida Eliane, Camino Real, and Festival produced the greatest numbers of large fruits per plant. Vernalizing strawberry transplants increased the yield and the number of medium and small sized fruits per plant. The results showed that vernalization is a technique that could be used in tropical climate conditions to improve strawberry cultivation productivity.
Highlights
Strawberry (Fragaria × ananassa (Duchesne ex Weston) Duchesne ex Rozier) is a crop that is highly suited to family farming because requires large amounts of labor to cultivated it and produce fruit
The most popular strawberry varieties in Paraguay are Dover and Sweet Charlie, which come from the United States and are classified as short day varieties (GUILLEN; ZARZA; DELGADO, 2019; ISATOMI; RAIDAN, 2002)
This study aimed to evaluate the agronomic characteristics of strawberry pre-transplants genotypes with and without artificial vernalization under tropical climatic conditions
Summary
Strawberry (Fragaria × ananassa (Duchesne ex Weston) Duchesne ex Rozier) is a crop that is highly suited to family farming because requires large amounts of labor to cultivated it and produce fruit. The high perishability of its fruits and their growth for direct consumption, mainly in natura, juices, and jams mean that its cultivation in Paraguay is concentrated around urban centers (GUILLEN; ZARZA; DELGADO, 2019; OVIEDO et al 2018). The transplants used to initiate the crops are mostly produced in Paraguay, but small amounts are imported from nurseries in Argentina produced in places with high altitudes, which means that they are naturally vernalized. Antunes and Peres (2013) remarked that specialized nurseries in Argentina and Chile supply plants to most the countries in South America. Most of these nurseries produce North American cultivars under intellectual property right agreements
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