Abstract:
Frigo plants, bare-rooted strawberry plants stored at low temperatures to delay
growth, present a novel approach for optimizing strawberry cultivation. Due to
reliance on imported Frigo plants and their high cost, there is a need to explore
alternative techniques for producing planting materials with enhanced growth and
yield. The effects of varying chilling durations on vegetative and reproductive growth
of strawberry plants were investigated during the current study using the 'Festival'
cultivar. Bare-rooted strawberry plants were exposed to four chilling storage
treatments: four, three, and two weeks at 2°C, and a control that received no chilling.
The number of stolons, flowers, flower size, fruit set, and Brix values were recorded
to assess the impact of chilling on plant development. Results indicated that chilling
duration significantly influenced (p<0.05) stolon production, flower width, and fruit
set, but not the number of flowers nor the brix value (p>0.05). The 4-week chilling
treatment yielded the highest number of stolons per plant (2.81), which was
significantly higher (p<0.05) than other treatments and the control. The 3-week
chilling treatment resulted in significantly highest fruit set of 3.7 fruits per plant and
the highest flower number of 4.1 flowers per plant, while the 4-week chilling
treatment produced significantly larger flowers (2.2 cm width). The control group
exhibited the lowest fruit set (1.6) and runner production (0.02), highlighting the
critical role of chilling in vegetative and reproductive growth. Brix values remained
similar across treatments. Accordingly, a 3-week chilling period can be recommended
for plants intended for cultivation due to enhanced fruit set and number of flowers,
while a 4-week chilling period is advisable for nursery plantlets aimed at producing
planting material with enhanced stolon production. This study highlighted the
importance of localized chilling treatments for enhancing both vegetative and
reproductive growth of strawberry cultivar ‘Festival’ and offers insights for
optimizing chilling protocols in strawberry production.
