EFFECTS OF SEVEN SUBSTRATES ON QUALITATIVE AND QUANTITATIVE CHARACTERISTICS OF THREE STRAWBERRY CULTIVARS UNDER SOILLESS CULTURE

The experiment was carried out during 2003–2004 in the research glasshouses of the Faculty of Agriculture, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad. The design of the experiment was factorial based on completely randomized design with twenty-one treatments and four replicates. Three cultivars were ‘Camarosa’, ‘Gaviota’ and ‘Selva’. The pot and tube system were used and the pots were filled with 1) peat 67% + sand 33% (v/v), 2) sand 100%, 3) perlite 100%, 4) peat moss 40% + perlite 60%, 5) peat moss 100%, 6) cocopeat 40% + perlite 60% and 7) cocopeat 100%. In general vegetative growth including runner, leaf and crown production in plant was higher in media with peat and cocopeat compared with sand and perlite 100% and ‘Gaviota’ and ‘Camarosa’ had more vegetative growth than ‘Selva’. The time of flowering was earlier in ‘Selva’ and ‘Camarosa’ than in ‘Gaviota’ and in sand than in media containing peat however time of fruiting was earlier in ‘Camarosa’ than in the two other cultivars. ‘Camarosa’ in cocopeat 40% + perlite 60% produced the highest number of fruits and yield per plant. The yield in substrates with peat or cocopeat was higher than in substrates without peat or cocopeat. The highest number of malformed fruits was observed in sand 100% for ‘Camarosa’. The soluble solids of fruits were different with different cultivars and different substrates. It looks like ‘Camarosa’ in cocopeat 40% + perlite 60% is proper for glasshouse production under pot and tube system.