STUDIES ON STRAWBERRY PRODUCTION IN SOILLESS CULTURE

Abstract

This experiment was carried out at Modern Agricultural company farm, of PICO Company, Al-Tahrir Directorate, Badr Center, Behaira, during the two successive seasons of 2015/2016 and 2016/2017. The aim of this experiment was to determine the productivity potential of Substrate Mixtures compared to conventional coco peat substrate and bio-stimulants on strawberry growth, nutrients concentrations of leaves, fruits quality, and yield under soilless culture system. Experimental treatments consisted of conventional coco peat at ratio 100%, old coco peat + perlite at ratio 1:3 (v/v), old coco peat + sand at ratio 1:3(v/v), old coco peat + perlite + sand at ratio 2:2:1(v/v/v),rice straw + perlite at ratio 1:3(v/v), rice straw + sand at ratio 1:3(v/v), rice straw + perlite + sand at ratio 2:2:1(v/v/v), peat moss + perlite at ratio 1:3(v/v), peat moss + sand at ratio 1:3(v/v), peat moss + perlite + sand at ratio 2:2:1(v/v/v), old coco peat + sand at ratio 1:1(v/v), rice straw + sand at ratio 1:2(v/v), and plants were foliar sprayed five times (once every 15 days) using 3 bio-stimulants (the effective microorganism (EM) , seaweed extract and amino acids ) compared with control (sprayed five times only with water) that started at 10 days after planting (DAP) . A randomize complete block design with two factors was used for analysis all data with three replications for each parameter.