Metalized-striped Plastic Mulch Reduces Root-zone Temperatures during Establishment and Increases Early-season Yields of Annual Winter Strawberry

Abstract

<jats:p>Black plastic mulch is used predominantly for winter strawberry (<jats:italic>Fragaria</jats:italic> ×<jats:italic>ananassa</jats:italic> Duch.) production in Florida because of its warming effects. However, black plastic mulch can increase heat stress during establishment, especially when growers advance planting dates (e.g., late September) to improve earliness. Consequently, we designed a new plastic mulch film that has a metalized center stripe with black shoulders. We hypothesized that metalized-striped mulch can minimize heat stress during establishment, while maintaining the warming effects of black mulch during winter. We conducted field trials over two seasons to evaluate black mulch, fully metalized mulch, and metalized-striped mulch using two cultivars differing in heat stress tolerance and fruit production patterns: ‘Florida Radiance’ and ‘Florida Beauty’. The effect of plastic mulch type on plant growth and yield was generally consistent across both seasons. Compared with black mulch, metalized-striped mulch reduced afternoon root-zone temperature (RZT) by up to 3.1 °C and reduced the duration of heat stress conditions (RZT &gt; 30 °C) by 119 hours across October and November, but exhibited equivalent soil warming during winter. Yield increases by metalized-striped mulch compared with black mulch ranged from 19% to 34% in the early season (November–January), 6% to 20% in the late season (February–March), and 12% to 26% over the entire season. Statistical significance was detected for the 2016–17 early-season yield and when yield data were expressed on a weekly basis. Compared with black mulch, metalized-striped mulch improved fruit number significantly without affecting fruit weight or canopy area, suggesting that heat stress on black mulch negatively affects flower and fruit development more than plant growth. Weekly fruit yield data indicate that metalized-striped mulch can produce greater yields than fully metalized mulch. Metalized-striped mulch is an easily implementable strategy for reducing establishment heat stress and improving fruit earliness in subtropical winter strawberry production regions.</jats:p>

Characterizing Early-Season Nitrogen Fertilization Rate Effects on Growth, Yield, and Quality of Strawberry

“…Early canopy growth promotion is particularly important to increase early-season yield in winter strawberry production. Under subtropical climate conditions, the growth of strawberry plants is often inhibited by heat stress during establishment [18,19]. Deschamps et al [18] reported that, compared to black plastic mulch, cooling effects of white-striped plastic mulch resulted in average increases of 11% and 31% in early season canopy area and yield, respectively, in two strawberry cultivars.…”

Raising root zone temperature improves plant productivity and metabolites in hydroponic lettuce production

“…As hydroponics in greenhouses has become more common, raising the RZT by heating the culture medium to increase yields may be possible. Even with conventional field production practices, raising the RZT has been conducted by covering the soil with insulating mulch during winter ( Deschamps and Agehara, 2019 ), which indicates that actively increasing the RZT could promote plant growth in field conditions.…”

Efficiency of Strawberry Cultivation under the Effect of Different Types of Plants in a Soilless System in the High-Altitude Regions of Southern Brazil

“…However, average maximum temperatures above 27 • C were recorded. The research showed that temperatures above 27 • C were unsuitable for flowering and may cause physiological disorders [29]. These observations were studied by the studies of Rivero et al (2022) [18], who, when exposing the 'Delizzimo' cultivar for 10 weeks in temperatures between 16 and 26 • C, induced 90% to 93% of flowering.…”