Effect of growth media and foliar application of macro nutrients on agronomic performance of strawberry
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Abstract
Strawberry (Fragaria ananasa), belongs to rosaceae family, which is rich in vitamins and minerals. The requirement of optimized media is very important because plant growth is largely dependent upon the physiochemical properties of the growing media usded for high yield and economic production of crops. Present study was conducted to evaluate the growth performance of strawberry in the different media and combination of the macro nutrients. Different media combination were used including soil, peat moss and soil+peat combination in equal proportion. Foliar application of NPK at weekly interval was done with 4ppm, 6ppm and 8ppm.The design was CRD with 3 replicates. Results revealed that strawberry plant showed better response in peat moss media with 6 and 8 ppm foliar application of NPK. Chlorophyll content at vegetative stage was maximum (19.6) at 6ppm, while at reproductive stage it was (23.69) with 4 ppm foliar application in peat moss. Maximum Number of fruits (7.21) were obtained in peat moss. Fruit weight (23.52), leaf area (625.86) and total soluble solids (7.33) were recorded maximum in peat moss with 8 and 6 ppm foliar application of NPK as compared to control. The color and the taste were also good in peatmoss media with higher doses of macro nutrients. So, plants grown in peat moss growing media showed significant increase in all parameters and gave better performance of strawberry growth and development both in vegetative as well as ass reproductive parameters.
Keywords: Strawberry; Macro nutrients; Growth media; Fragaria annanaca; Foliar spray