The performance of dayneutral strawberries differs between environments in Ontario

Abstract

The strawberry production season can be extended in Ontario if plantings are protected from adverse weather conditions. At present, dayneutral cultivars developed in California are used for production, but are not well adapted to Ontario conditions. The objectives of this study were to determine suitable dayneutral cultivars for production throughout Ontario and to investigate how they react to high tunnel environments. Two sets of trials were run. The first set, planted in 2005 and harvested in 2005-2006, compared six dayneutral cultivars of strawberries in four environments. The second set, planted in 2010 and harvested in 2010-2011, compared five dayneutral cultivars grown in four environments. For the summer crops, high tunnels had higher yields in the cooler environment at New Liskeard and low yields in the warmer environment of Cedar Springs, when compared with outside plantings. In the spring, this trend was reversed. 'Seascape' and 'Tribute' performed consistently in all environments. 'Albion' and 'Monterey', although medium yielding with lower winter survival, had large fruit size and exceptional fruit quality. 'Portola', had large fruits and performed well, so could be of interest to farmers in Ontario. All the European cultivars tested had medium to small berries.

Growth, Productivity, and Quality of Strawberry as Affected by Propagation Method and Cultivation System

“…Strawberry fruits exposed to high relative humidity often suffer from several diseases such as grey mold (Botrytis cinerea), stem-end rot (Gnomoniopsis fructicola), powdery mildew (Podospharea aphanis), and black spot (Colletotrichum acutatum). Strawberry plants also produce fewer and smaller fruits under high temperature condition (Taghavi et al, 2016). It was reported that up to 50% of the ripe fruits can be affected by these diseases (Menzel et al, 2016a;Menzel et al, 2016b).…”

Stable indoleamines attenuate stress—A novel paradigm in tryptophan metabolism in plants

“…Plants were hand-planted in multiple rows on raised beds covered with 1.0 mil black polyethylene mulch with irrigation tape (Netafilm "Streamline" drip tubing at 0.9 L h −1 per emitter at 30 cm spacing) installed under the mulch and the plants were irrigated daily for 1 h during the cropping season. 4 The last noted harvest occurred in late August and regular maintenance regime ceased as the plants began to enter the dormancy phase. Any reproductive organs on the plants were removed before selecting the plants for the current study.…”

“…19,71,72 Strawberry cultivars such as "Albion" perform poorly during erratic temperature fluctuations in late fall. 4 We used "Albion" as a model to underpin the efficacy of TRP applied as ground drench or ground drench combined with foliar spray to the plants that were preprogrammed to enter dormancy. We hypothesized that TRP application and subsequent indoleamine metabolism might mitigate the naturally occurring dormancy driven by abiotic stress conditions (low light and cold temperature) and probably extend the developmental phase to yield fruit in November when no fruits are produced in the field conditions.…”

“…Strawberry ("Albion" cultivar) tends to enter endodormancy during late fall (October) in Ontario, Canada, where the leaves senesce, flowers wither and fruits cease to set. 4 The application of TRP, the precursor of indoleamines, is known to supplement the rhizosphere including the microbiome and improve crop growth and productivity in a plethora of plant species, [5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13] but during the cropping season. TRP is applied to plants through various ways, including soil application, foliar spray, and seed priming.…”

“…Specifically, we questioned if in addition to MEL, other unassociated or understudied indoleamines in the pathway shall alleviate stress and thus overcompensate as an extra flowering/fruiting season after the last harvest in strawberry. Strawberry (“Albion” cultivar) tends to enter endodormancy during late fall (October) in Ontario, Canada, where the leaves senesce, flowers wither and fruits cease to set 4 …”