THE EFFECT OF GIBBERELIC ACID ON THE GROWTH AND FLOWERING OF STRAWBERRY (FRAGARIA × ANANASSA DUCH. ) 'CHANDLER' VITROPLANTS

In Venezuela, the vegetative growth, reproductive development, and fruit production of strawberry is limited by the high temperature. For this reason, the commercial plantations are located in areas with high altitude, 1000 meter above sea level, where the climatic conditions; mainly temperature, are considered adequate for the growth and fruit production of strawberry. In order to compensate the temperature requirement and increase the production areas in this country, the objective of this research was to evaluate the effect of application of exogenous gibberellic acid on the vegetative growth and flowering of strawberry cultivar ‘Chandler’ vitroplants. The tendency of the results showed that the highest leaf number, crown number and the largest number of inflorescences and flowers were obtained in plants of the cultivar ‘Chandler’ treated with 20 mg.L^-1 of gibberellic acid throughout the period of evaluation.