White-fruited strawberry growth and development under drip irrigation and fertigation

Strawberries, in addition to being a valuable source of nutrition, are also a much-preferred fruit due to their taste, attractive appearance, pleasant aroma, and beautiful colour. White strawberries are even more attractive with their exotic taste and interesting colour. The aim of this paper is to present the effects of the applied regimes of fertilisation and irrigation on the growth parameters of the white strawberry cultivar.

A two-factor experiment was conducted during 2023–2024 in an unheated greenhouse in the Chelopechene experimental field, Sofia, Bulgaria, with the drip-irrigated and fertigated strawberry cultivar Fragaria x ananassa ‘Snow White᾿. The irrigation and fertilisation factors were applied at two rates, where irrigation (IR): I1 – 75% ET_c and I2 – 50% ET_c; fertigation (F): F1 – optimal fertilisation N_8.09P12.76K15.62 and F2 – suboptimal fertilisation with 75% of F1. Five treatments were tested: control: I0F0 – 100% ET_c, without fertigation; I1F1; I1F2; I2F1; I2F2.

I1F1 plants showed the highest values of the studied growth parameters. It was established that plants from the I1F1 treatment (75% IR and 100% F) were the tallest (22.83 cm) and had the largest number of leaves (50.92), number of inflorescences (26.96), number of flowers (89.25), and runners (25.79). The plants from the I1F1 treatment had the highest plant growth index (30.13 cm).