Abstract:
Five strawberry cultivars, (Brighton, Douglas, Fern, Toro and Pajaro) were cultivated in a heated plastic greenhouse from August 1987 to May 1988 in the Agricultural Research Center of Northern Greece and their performance for earliness, yield and fruit quality was evaluated.
The same cultivars were grown under field conditions for comparison.
Under greenhouse conditions Brighton and Douglas proved to be the most productive cultivars (cvs), followed by Toro and Pajaro, while Fern was the least productive one.
Brighton, Fern and Toro (day-neutral cvs) gave the 47%, 38% and 53% respectively of their marketable yield during the first five weeks of the harvest period, while Douglas and Pajaro (short-day cvs) gave only the 22% and 24% of their marketable yield respectively.
Flesh firmness of the fruit varied from harvest to harvest and between cultivars, as well.
Toro produced the softest fruit of all cultivars tested (0.32Kg). Brighton and Toro had the highest percentage of soluble solids and Pajaro the lowest acidity.
Strawberries produced either under greenhouse or field conditions were of similar quality, but yield of plants under field conditions was about double that of plants growing under greenhouse conditions.
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