Evaluation of strawberry nursery management techniques to improve quality of plants.

摘要

In strawberry production, the availability of high quality plants is one of the most important factors in obtaining good yields. Starting production with healthy plants that have bigger crown size, longer roots and higher starch concentration gives the grower a greater chance of high productivity. In order to improve quality factors and the number of commercial plants to be obtained from a 'Gariguette' nursery, three alternative ways of managing mother plants were analysed. Treatments were applied when all the space between the mother plant rows was covered with runners, 4 months after planting. Mother plants were either eliminated, mother plant leaves were pruned, or control mother plants received no treatment. Crown diameter, root length, number and percent of commercial plants and starch concentration in the harvested plants were evaluated. Control plants produced significantly more non-commercial sized crowns (381 crowns), than the mother plant elimination treatment (307 crowns). No significant differences were detected among the number of commercial sized plants. The mother plant elimination treatment showed significantly higher starch content in the crowns (73.8 mg) than the control treatment (37.9 mg), but no significant differences were detected for crown diameter or root length..