Nutritional studies on strawberry under polyhouse

Abstract

An experiment comprising of four levels of nitrogen (0,100,150 and 200 kg ha-1), three levels of potassium (0, 75 and 150 kg ha-1) applied as T1 (full dose one week after transplanting) and T2 (1/2 dose one week after transplanting and remaining half at the time of fruit set) was conducted following RBD factorial design. Maximum plant height (24.19 cm), plant spread (659.04 cm2) and number of fruits plant-1 (13.72) was observed when full dose of fertilizers was applied one week after transplanting, while the highest fruit weight (7.39 g) was obtained when fertilizer was applied in split doses. However, the time of fertilizer application did not show any significant effect on fruit yield plant-1 and quality characters of strawberry. The maximum plant height (27.25 cm), number of fruits/plant (14.79), fruit weight (8.11 g) and fruits/plant (120.09 g) was observed with 150 kg ha-1 N application. While the highest plant (23.70 cm), number of fruits/plant (13.93), fruit weight (7.58 g) and fruit yield/plant (106.68 g) was recorded with 150 kg ha-1 application of potassium. Both N and K applied each at 150 kg ha-1 significantly improved all qualitative attributes in strawberry fruit. An increase in the level of nitrogen and potassium increased the total leaf nitrogen and potassium nutrient content. Micronutrient content (Mn, Zn, Fe, and Cu) in leaves increased significantly with N application. However, potassium and time of fertilizer application did not show any significant impact on micronutrient contents.