الملخص الإنجليزي
The investigations on the response of strawberry cultivar, Camarosa to four media viz. Perlite + Peat moss (1:1), Perlite + Peat moss (3:1), Perlite + Local Peat (1:1) and Perlite + Local Peat (3:1) and three column sizes with 6, 7 and 8 pots were undertaken under vertical hydroponics system in non-cool shadehouse conditions during winter 2005-06 (November 2005 to April, 2006) at Agriculture Research Center, Rumais of the Directorate of Agriculture and Livestock Research, Ministry of Agriculture. The response of strawberry was assessed in respect of four biomass indices (fresh and dry weights of shoot and root), three yield (fruit number, fruit yield and average fruit weight) and three fruit quality attributes (fruit juice pH, acidity percentage and total soluble solids of the fruits) as well as ionic concentrations of nine elements viz., N, P, K, Ca, Mg, Mn, Zn, Cu and Fe.
The results indicated that of these 19 characters, the effects of column types
was significant in respect of 11 characters (Fresh and dry shoot and root
weights, total number and weight of fruits/pot, fruit juice pH, N, P, K and Fe
whereas the effect of media was significant with respect to 5 characters
(Fresh shoot and root weights, dry root weight, Mn and Fe while the effect of
interaction was significant only with respect to 2 characters (Fresh shoot
weight and fruit juice pH).
Among the column types, columns with 6-pots performed significantly batter
than those with 7 and 8-pots respectively, in terms of biomass, yield and fruit
quality attributes studied.
Among the growth media the mixture of perlite and peat moss irrespective their ratios showed significant superiority to the mixture of perlite and local peat in terms of biomass characters but not in yield characters. Hence, it was concluded that vertical hydroponics system could be used for cultivation of strawberry in 6-pots colums with peat moss or local peat. However, it is suggested to use local Omani peat (date peat) than other substrate as it is cheaper and easily available. Thus the results of the investigations demonstrated that strawberries could be produced under non-cool shadehouse conditions in Oman with fruit yields 8 to 10 kg/m2 comparable to yield levels obtained elsewhere in the world.
