RESPONSE OF SOME NEW PROMISING STRAWBERRY HYBRIDS FOR SALT TOLERANCE

Abstract

This study was conducted in research facilities of Horticulture Research Institute, Agriculture Research Centre, during the period from 2009 to 2011 to study the effect of salinity on growth and yield components of two strawberry cultivars. Plants were grown in pots and irrigated by sodium chloride solution with concentrations of (1000, 1500, 2000, 2500, and 3000 mg/L .Nutrient solution was added with each treatment. Beside, control treatment which was irrigated by only nutrient solution. Data were recorded on vegetative, yielding ability, fruit quality and some chemical constituents. Results indicated that hybrid Genotype y was superior to cultivar Sweet Charlie in most characters studied .i.e. in the first year values of plant height were 12.6 and to 11.7 cm early yield was 30.7 and 21.7gm, total yield was 51.2 and 36.1gm, average fruit weight was 10.2 and 7.22gm and leaf area was 22.2 and 13.5 chlorophyll content was 49.07 and 41.38 for both genotype y and Sweet Charlie respectively. Similar results were obtained in the second year. Higher concentration of sodium chloride solution resulted in reduction in plant height, leaf number and area, number of fruits, early and total yield, average fruit weight and total chlorophyll content. Total soluble solids were not affected by higher salt concentrations up to 2500 mg/L in both years of study for both cultivars, but it was much reduced with the highest concentration 3000mg/L. It can be concluded that Genotype y is a promising cultivar, it can be grown in wide scale cultivation, and it can tolerate moderate salinity. Key Words: - strawberry, Fragaria x ananassa Duch, genotypes, hybrids, salinity, tolerance, response.