Abstract

PEREZ DE CAMACARO, María; CAREW, James  and  BATTEY, Nick. Effects of the plant density on the vegetative and reproductive growth in strawberry cv. Elsanta. Bioagro [online]. 2005, vol.17, n.1, pp.11-15. ISSN 1316-3361.

The manipulation of plant density is a tool used to optimize the yield in strawberry. However, both the vegetative and reproductive growth are affected by this practice. Furthermore, the effect of plant density depends on the cultivar, agronomic management, and environmental conditions. In this research, the vegetative growth, development and yield of strawberry plants were evaluated under field conditions at different densities of planting in the experimental grounds of The University of Reading, England, located at 51º 30’ N and 137 meters above sea level. The experiment was established as a completely randomized block design with four treatments consisting in plant spacing of 10, 15, 20, and 25 cm between plants (100, 44, 25, and 16 plants ·m^-1). The effect of plant density on the vegetative variables became more important during the later periods of growth when those variables were higher at the lower plant densities (higher plant spacing in the row). On the other hand, the number of inflorescences did not show clear tendencies by effect of the treatments. The highest density produced the lowest yield per plant but the highest yield per unit area. The highest number of marketable fruit per plant was found in plants growing under low plant densities.

Keywords : Fragaria x ananassa; small fruits; cultural practices.