CHARACTERIZATION OF STRAWBERRY CULTIVARS IN SOUTHERN BRAZIL

There is continual release of new strawberry cultivars on the international market. In Brazil, the introduction of new cultivars has been made through companies who import plants from Chilean and Argentine nurseries. Recently, new strawberry cultivars were introduced in Brazil, originating from the USA (Florida and California) and Spain. The present work was carried out at Embrapa (cBrazilian Enterprise of Agriculture Research) in the Center of Temperate Climate - Pelotas - Rio Grande do Sul, where six cultivars (‘Camarosa’, ‘Plarionfre’, ‘Galexia’, ‘Festival’, ‘Earlibrite’ and ‘Sabrosa’) were evaluated in May, 2006. Plants from Chilean and Argentine nurseries were used. We concluded that ‘Camarosa’ was most productive (43 t.ha^-1) followed by ‘Galexia’ (37.4 t.ha^-1), ‘Festival’ (37.4 t.ha^-1), ‘Earlibrite’ (36 t.ha^-1), ‘Sabrosa’ (35.8 t.ha^-1) and ‘Plarionfre’ (30 t.ha^-1). The production per plant was 877, 773, 771, 722, 716, and 620 grams, respectively, for ‘Camarosa’, ‘Galexia’, ‘Festival’, ‘Earlibrite’, ‘Sabrosa’ and ‘Plarionfre’. Production was concentrated from the end of October to the beginning of December in Pelotas-RS.