EFFECT OF DORMANCY-BREAKING CHEMICALS ON OVERCOMING WINTER REST OF STRAWBERRY

Non-fulfillment of the chilling requirement of strawberry is one of the limiting factors in the production of strawberry in the fall and winter seasons of warm climates. To overcome this problem the application of plant growth regulators and chemicals could be useful. An experiment was conducted under a complete randomized block design with three replications of four planting dates and four chemical treatments that included GA₃ at the rate of 50 mg L^-1 and 100 mg L^-1, volk oil (2.5 and 5%), potassium nitrate (1.5 and 3%), and Dormex (0.5 and 1%). Petiole length and width, yield, vitamin C content, TSS, and total acid were measured. Results indicated that GA₃ applied at the rate of 50 mg L^-1 significantly increased yield when compared with the control and other treatments. The highest fruit size was achieved with Dormex (1%)