Springtime Foliar Application of Plant Bio-Regulators on Off Season Strawberry Production Under Mid Hill Condition

Abstract

To increase the strawberry production especially during offseason with the application of plant bio-regulators, the present study was conducted under subtropical mid-hill conditions of Arunachal Pradesh, India during spring-summer months of 2015-16. Effect of springtime foliar application of different plant bio-regulators viz., NAA, GA3, and BA on plant growth, yield and quality attributes of strawberry cv. Chandler with the advantage of increasing strawberry production during the off-season was accessed during the current study. The experiment was laid out in a randomized block design with ten treatment combinations (NAA, GA3, and BA at 50, 100, and 150 ppm each) replicated thrice considering water spray as control. The plant bio-regulators were sprayed at 25 days after transplanting and at the bud initiation stage. Results of the experiment revealed that the plants treated with GA3 150 ppm significantly influenced the plant height and number of leaves per plant at 30, 45, 60 and 75 days after transplanting. The minimum number of days taken to open the first flower (62.11 days) and the maximum number of runners per plant (9.17) were also recorded in the plants treated with GA3 150 ppm. While, GA3 50 ppm treated plants yielded fruits with maximum berry length (3.69 cm), berry width (2.74 cm), average berry weight (13.99 g), number of berries per plant (21.11) and yield per plant (209.11 g). Concerning the quality parameters of fruits, plants treated with NAA 100 ppm exhibited maximum TSS (9.00° B), total sugar (7.23 %), and ascorbic acid content (77.82 mg/100 g) whereas, GA3 100 ppm treatment significantly increased the contents of anthocyanin (122.18 mg/100 g), total phenols (69.42 mg/100 g) and β-carotene (3.96 µg/100 g).