Morpho-phenological and agronomic performance of strawberry cultivars with different photoperiodic flowering responses

ABSTRACT.

The adaptability of the strawberry is known; however, little is known about the morphological and agronomic performance of these runner plants when transplanted in the Southern Hemisphere. The objective of this study was to evaluate whether strawberry cultivars classified according to their flowering differ in morpho-phenology and agronomic performance. Six cultivars of strawberry were used, two of which were Short Day (SD), Camarosa and Camino Real, and four of which were Neutral Day (ND), Aromas, Albion, Monterey, and San Andreas. The cultivars were arranged in a randomized complete block design with four blocks. The research developed in two parts: one part as descriptive research (morphological performance and phenology) and the other part as explanatory research (morphology of the root system and the agronomic performance). In the descriptive research, the data about the strawberry cultivars were presented in a descriptive way. The data on morpho-agronomic performance (explanatory research) were submitted to analysis of variance and Tukey’s test at a 5% probability of error. It is inferred that there is variability among cultivars regardless of their classification in terms of flowering. In all cultivars, we observed a botanical structure called a hypsophyll that is not included in the morphological descriptors of the species.

Keywords:
precocity; descriptors; photoperiodic classification; hypsophyll; short days; neutral days