INFLUENCE OF THE GENOTYPE, TYPE OF PLANT AND POPULATION DENSITY ON STRAWBERRY PRODUCTIVITY AND FRUIT QUALITY UNDER MACROTUNNEL

In an experimental assay with 12 strawberry genotypes, without protection and under macrotunnel, there was no interaction of the genotype x the production system for none of the parameters evaluated. Macrotunnel increased 12% in average the early production with respect to the former, however both production systems had a similar production for the full cycle. Macrotunnel promoted higher weight, better appearance and less percentage of deformed fruits. In another experiment using two genotypes, two types of plants, at 100, 150 and 200 thousand plants ha^-1, ‘Festival’ was more precocious than ‘01.165’, however both exhibited the same total productivity. Tray plants survived better to the transplant and had higher early production than bare root plants, but both showed similar total yield at the end of the cycle. The maximum early production and total yield for both genotypes and type of plant was with 150,000 plants ha^-1, where ‘01.165’ had lower percentage of deformed fruits, higher weight and better appearance than ‘Festival’. Bare root plants had less percentage of deformed fruits and higher mean weight for both periods. Population density had no influence on quality parameters.