The aim of this work was to know the physiological state of the aerial part of strawberry plants (varieties Gariguette and Elsanta) during storage in cold chamber (-2ºC) from January until August. According to the biological test (petiole test), the growth capacity was kept up without significant evolution. The flow of metabolic heating (Q) and the respiratory intensity (RCO2) of the apical zone tissues measured at the exit of the cold chamber did not change significantly. Their values measured after 48 and 72 hours of acclimatization at 20ºC were higher than at the exit of the cold chamber. The differences between the values without acclimatization and after acclimatization increased during the first weeks of storage, showing an evolution in the apex of the plant. There was a strict parallelism between the values of Q and RCO2 and of the tissues water contents (UP). The growth capacity of the aerial part of the plants seemed to keep up even after 8 months of storage.
strawberry plant; microcalorimetric method; metabolic heating; respiration; water content; growth capacity; biological test
