Vol. 11, Issue 4 (2022)

Author(s):
K Arunkumar, Manju Jincy Varghese, S Sudhakar, R Marimuthu, Preethu K Paul, A Ashiba and R Abishek

Abstract:
Strawberry is one of the most important crops with small fruits after grapes widespread in different regions of the world due to its many varieties and its ability to grow and adapt to different environmental conditions. The availability of calcium and boron is very important for the growth of plants as the lack of any of them lead to a significant imbalance in growth and yield. Hence, the main aim of this study to determine the effect of calcium and boron on yield and quality attributes of strawberry. This study was carried out during 2021-2022 at Vattavada village, Idukki district in Kerala. The experiment was laid out in a Randomized Block Design with 4 treatments and each treatment replicated thrice. The data recorded on various parameters viz., albinism, fruit malformation, grey mould, number of leaves per plant, number of flowers per plant, fruit setting percentage, fruit length, fruit diameter, number of fruits per plant, fruit weight, total yield per plant, fruit firmness, total soluble solids and fruit acidity were statistically analyzed. Significant differences were observed among different treatments on various yield parameters in Sweet Charlie variety of strawberry. Among the four treatments, combination of calcium and boron spray had recorded significantly the highest number of leaves per plant (45.76), number of flowers per plant (15.83), fruit setting percentage (93.44%), fruit length (39.44 cm), fruit diameter (32.94 cm), number of fruits per plant (13.86), fruit weight (13.56 g), total yield per plant (187.94 g), and also recorded lowest albinism (7.24%), fruit malformation (3.85%) and grey mould (2.14%). In quality characters significant differences were observed among different treatments in Sweet Charlie variety in strawberry. Among all the treatments, combination of calcium and boron spray had recorded significantly the maximum fruit firmness (1.55 N), fruit acidity (1.26%), and also recorded lowest total soluble solids (7.56%). Hence, our studies clearly indicated that combination of calcium and boron application can be recommended for reducing the incidence of albinism, fruit malformation and grey mould in strawberry, and to get higher yield.