Yield and nutrients of six cultivars of strawberries grown in five urban cropping systems

Abstract

Urban populations may struggle to access health-promoting fresh fruits and vegetables, and urban agriculture approaches are of increasing interest. In this study, we used five cropping systems for urban environments to produce strawberry fruit, a popular and high-value fruit. Two green roof systems, a hydroponic system, an aquaponic system, and a raised bed system were used to grow six strawberry cultivars: ‘Albion,’ ‘Eversweet,’ ‘Monterey,’ ‘Portola,’ ‘San Andreas’ and ‘Seascape.’ We measured total mass of fruit, marketable mass, size, percentage rotted fruit and mineral content. We found productivity and aspects of fruit quality to vary among cultivars within a cropping system and the best performers in one cropping system may not be the best in another. The most consistent result was that ‘Portola’ was among the best yielding cultivars in all systems, although ‘Monterey’ had reasonably good production in most systems, good berry size in the green roof pots and raised beds, and good mineral content in the aquaponic system. ‘Monterey’ and ‘Portola’ had higher amounts of calcium, silicon and sodium in the aquaponic system than other cultivars. ‘San Andreas’ had higher amounts of copper, potassium, phosphorus and silicon in the hydroponic system. ‘Portola,’ ‘Seascape’ and ‘Eversweet’ had higher amounts of copper and zinc in the green roof planters and ‘Eversweet’ also had higher amounts of zinc and calcium in the raised beds. Given the spatial and financial constraints in urban systems and the variability of performance among cultivars, the cropping system should be selected before the cultivar.