Strawberry: growth, development and diseases

Abstract

This book provides a broad, well-structured review of strawberries and their cultivation under current environmental conditions. Methods of strawberry cultivation have undergone many improvements, and this book covers aspects from plant propagation, architecture, genetic resources, breeding, abiotic stresses and climate change to evolving diseases and their control. The first chapter gives a general introduction to strawberry with some important statistics. It is followed by Section 1 on Genetics, Breeding and Omics, which contains five chapters. Chapters 2 and 3 discuss modern aspects related to available genetic resources and breeding for yield, quality and disease traits. The scope of metabolomics is discussed with special reference to white strawberry (Fragaria chiloensis subsp. chiloensis f. chiloensis) in Chapter 4. Chapter 5 is an interesting study on the transcriptomic profile of some key genes in relation to systemic acquired resistance, while chapter 6 discusses different aspects of genetic transformation in strawberry. Section 2 on Cultivation Systems and Propagation contains three chapters. These chapters discuss at length the plant growth, flowering, root growth and architecture, replant problems and plant propagation techniques. Section 3 on Disease and Stress Management contains six chapters dealing with biotic and abiotic stresses of strawberry. The first four chapters discuss traditional and emerging fungal diseases, their diagnosis and modern biointensive management strategies. Chapters 14 and 15 deal with the emerging challenges posed due to climate change and its impact on the changing magnitude and dimensions of abiotic stresses on strawberry. The book is aimed at those involved in strawberry research and development, and also to those who are interested in cultivation of strawberry for commercial gain.

Comparative Analysis of the Microbial Community Structures Between Healthy and Anthracnose-Infected Strawberry Rhizosphere Soils Using Illumina Sequencing Technology in Yunnan Province, Southwest of China

“…Strawberry plants, like other commercial crops, can be damaged by environmental, genetic, and biological factors, either directly or by interactions between these factors (Garrido et al, 2011 ). In the field, strawberry plants can be infected by a large number of pathogens, including fungi, bacteria, viruses, nematodes, and arthropods, and these pathogens cause damage to the leaves, roots, crowns, and fruits (Husaini and Neri, 2016 ), resulting in the greatest fruit losses.…”

“…Since Brooks ( 1931 ) first reported strawberry anthracnose in 1931, the disease has been reported all over the world; in China, strawberry anthracnose was first reported in 1990 by Hu ( 1990 ). The species C. acutatum, C. fragariae , and C. gloeosporioides have been reported as the major causal agents of strawberry anthracnose (Karimi et al, 2015 ; Husaini and Neri, 2016 ; Reddy, 2016 ). All three species can be found in all parts of the strawberry plant (Denoyes-Rothan et al, 2003 ), including fruits, flowers, leaves, runners, roots, and crowns; the typical symptoms are described as irregular and black leaf spots, flower blight, and fruit and crown rot (Freeman and Katan, 1997 ; Mertely and Legard, 2004 ).…”

Comparative analysis of the microbiomes of strawberry wild species Fragaria nilgerrensis and cultivated variety Akihime using amplicon-based next-generation sequencing

“…Ampelomyces quisqualis, Bacillus subtilis and Trichoderma harzianum have been applied to control strawberry diseases. However, they have not achieved the effect of replacing chemical pesticides ( Husaini and Neri, 2016 ), which may be due to the fact that the microorganisms used are not obtained from strawberry microflora. Studies have shown that biocontrol bacteria isolated directly from plant microorganisms have higher efficacy than other “non-self” sources ( Haney et al, 2015 ; Sangiorgio et al, 2022 ).…”

“…Akihime is also the main cultivated variety in Yunnan, China, with a wide planting area and high yield, but poor storage and transportation resistance and susceptibility to powdery mildew ( Kanto, 2009 ; Liu et al, 2014 ). With the expansion of greenhouse cultivation and continuous cropping, strawberries have been remarkably affected by pathogenic microbial infections, resulting in substantial losses ( Husaini and Neri, 2016 ). However, field investigation did not reveal the pathological symptoms of F. nilgerrensis .…”

Minimal Media Strength for In vitro Conservation of Strawberry (Fragaria ananassa) Cultures

“…Strawberry (Fragaria ananassa Duch.) is a perennial herbal fruit plant, with fruits that appreciated for its fragrance, taste and antioxidant capacity resulting from high levels of anthocyanin, and other therapeutic and nutritional properties (Husaini & Neri, 2016). The cultivation of strawberry has spread in a wide range of geographical areas in the world, as it has extended from tropical and subtropical regions to cold regions, making it adapted to a wide range of climatic conditions as it is grown in about 80 countries (FAO, 2016).…”