Strawberry (Fragaria ananassa) cultivar 'Rumba' assessment under the northern climatic conditions

Strawberry assortment changes each year. When choosing the best cultivar for growing, farmers pay attention to the fruit appearance and productivity, as well as the inner fruit quality. Dutch cultivar ‘Rumba’ is one of the newest and already on the market well-known cultivars, which is becoming increasingly popular for cultivation in different European countries and different production systems. In order to evaluate suitability of ‘Rumba’ for specific growing conditions, this study also includes the strawberry cultivars ‘Honeoye’ and ‘Sonata’, which has already been popular in the production. The first one is early ripening and because of that many growers are still growing this cultivar. On the other hand, cultivar ‘Sonata’ is characterized by good yields and berry quality that consumers like. This study was conducted in different farming systems during the 6-year period, from 2010 to 2015. The cultivars were evaluated for potential and actual yields, fruit quality and fruit shelf life after harvest. Although ‘Rumba’ has early ripening time, its average ripening time was five days after ‘Honeoye’. Potential yield of ‘Rumba’ is lower than of the cultivar ‘Sonata’, but higher than that of the cultivar ‘Honeoye’. ‘Rumba’ has better berry quality than the other two cultivars and excellent fruit storage after harvest. During the study years symptoms of winter frost damage were not observed.