Strawberry yield and quality in intercrop with legumes

Human health improvement has been a goal for many decades. More and more people are interested in healthier food and lifestyle. Improved health cannot be obtained without a healthy and balanced diet. Fruits and vegetables are important parts of it. One of the most popular fruit is strawberry. It is popular not only because of its looks, taste and beneficial effect on health but also for its ability to adapt to many kinds of climatic conditions allowing it to be grown worldwide. There are many technologies how to grow strawberries. The main goal of them is to maintain and increase strawberry yield and quality at the same time reducing investment of money, time and labour. In this study, strawberry intercrop with different legumes was evaluated. The evaluation of strawberry (cultivar ‘Polka’) yield and quality was done. Local hybrid of broad bean, peas ‘Ambrosia’ and ‘Capella’, clover ‘Namejs’ were used as intercrop with strawberries and compared to strawberries grown without intercrop. There were no stated significant differences within strawberry marketable yield, unmarketable yield and Botrytis cinerea damaged berries between growing variants in 2015. Concluding from one year data the intercropping of strawberries with legumes can give the same yield and quality strawberries as in a traditional growing system.