The Effect of Organic, Inorganic Fertilizers and Their Combinations on Fruit Quality Parameters in Strawberry

Abstract

Strawberry (Fragaria × ananassa Duch.) is widely grown and highly appreciated by consumers around the world for its delicious, soft, and highly nutritious fruits. Turkey is one of the most important strawberry producers in the world. Strawberry cultivation in Turkey typically involves the use of chemical fertilizers and more recently organic and organic+ chemical fertilizers have been started to use in commercial production to produce healthier fruits. Therefore, in this study, we investigated the effect of organic, chemical, and organic + chemical fertilizer treatments in strawberry (cvs. ‘Albion’, ‘San Andreas’ and ‘Monterey’) fruit quality parameters including fruit color (L*, a*, b*, C and H0) parameters, soluble solids content, total acidity, fruit firmness, vitamin C, specific sugars and organic acids. Results showed that in particular fruit color parameters, soluble solid content (SSC), total acidity, fruit firmness, and vitamin C (L-Ascorbic acid) in fruits of three strawberry cultivars were significantly affected by different fertilizer applications (p < 0.05). Compared with conventional chemical fertilizer treatment, the organic fertilizer treatment produced fruit with significantly higher contents of SSC and glucose but decreased fruit firmness and vitamin C. Organic fertilizer also gave more intense colored strawberry fruits with high Chroma values (47.948 in organic fertilizer application and 39.644 and 39.931 in organic + chemical fertilizer and chemical fertilizer, respectively). Citric acid was identified to be the predominant organic acid in strawberry fruits but treatments were found insignificant on citric acid content.

Effects of Integrated and Organic Management on Strawberry (cv. Camarosa) Plant Growth, Nutrition, Fruit Yield, Quality, Nutraceutical Characteristics, and Soil Fertility Status

“…There are many reports on the superiority of ORG-produced fruits and vegetables over conventional cultivation practice regarding ascorbic acid concentration [2,6,7,32]; however, Asami et al [7] pointed out the superiority of sustainable (similar to INT management practiced here) over conventional management, which supports the present findings. Furthermore, results similar to ours have been reported by others [26,40], although working with ORG and conventionally produced strawberries, whereas [20,29] found a lower concentration of ascorbic acid in ORG-produced strawberries, obscuring, even more, the effects of cultivation management on its concentration in the fruit.…”

“…Carbohydrates, as well as the sweetness index of the ORG-cultivated fruits, were found to be, in most cases, higher those of I-AGR-cultivated fruits and similar to those determined under I-ACT practice. According to [29], the combination of chemical fertilizers plus organic matter in three strawberry cultivars led to a similar concentration of sugars to those measured under ORG fertilization, with similar conclusions reported by others [10,15,18,28].…”

“…According to [8], smaller fruits tend to be firmer than larger fruits, but as fruits produced in this trial under both ORG and INT management were of similar growth, this justifies the similar firmness determined. However, according to [29], chemical fertilization tends to produce fruits of higher firmness, leading to the assumption that INT-produced fruits would be firmer. Nonetheless, one must take into account that Ca is a major component of fruit, which defines its firmness, and that there was not any difference among treatments concerning its concentration in the leaves.…”

Pollination Methods and Integrated Fertilizer Influenced the Pollination Rate, Fruit Development, and Quality of Cucumis melo L. under Greenhouse Conditions

“…Earlier, Kilic at el. [34] reported that the organic acid content is higher in organic compared to inorganic fertilizer treatments. In addition, the T1 treatment resulted in faster fruit ripening than the T2 treatment, thus resulting in a significantly higher organic acid content in the fruit pulp.…”

Identification of Metabolites Changes and Quality in Strawberry Fruit: Effect of Cultivation in High Tunnel and Open Field

“…Strawberry fruit is rich in bioactive compounds such as phenolic acids, flavonoids, sugars, organic acids, and anthocyanins [ 2 ]. Strawberry fruit, which is rich in biochemical compounds, is preferred by people who want a healthy diet [ 3 ]. Strawberry fruit is widely grown in many countries today and is preferred both for fresh consumption and as a functional product in many fields, especially in the food industry.…”