Temperature Has a Greater Effect on Fruit Growth than Defoliation or Fruit Thinning in Strawberries in the Subtropics

Christopher M. Menzel
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Christopher M. Menzel: Department of Agriculture and Fisheries, PO Box 5083, SCMC, Nambour, Queensland 4560, Australia

Agriculture, 2019, vol. 9, issue 6, 1-12

Abstract: Fruit size declines in strawberries ( Fragaria × ananassa Duch.) as the season progresses in many subtropical areas, possibly due to inadequate leaf area, over-cropping, or high temperatures. An experiment was conducted to investigate the importance of these factors on fruit growth in ‘Festival’ in Queensland, Australia. Groups of plants were defoliated to remove half of the mature leaves on each plant, thinned to remove all the inflorescences on each plant, or defoliated and thinned. Control plants were left intact. Defoliation, thinning, or defoliation + thinning decreased yield (total and/or marketable) by 15% to 24% compared with the control. Defoliation, or defoliation + thinning decreased average fruit weight (total and/or marketable fruit) by 1 to 2 g compared with the control, whereas thinning had the opposite effect. The incidence of small fruit increased towards the end of the season. There were strong relationships between fruit weight and average daily mean temperature in the seven weeks before harvest ( R 2 s greater than 0.80). Fruit weight decreased from 24 g to 8 g as the temperature increased from 16 °C to 20 °C. This response was not affected by defoliation or thinning. The strong effect of temperature on fruit size indicates a problem for production in the future in the absence of heat-tolerant cultivars.

Keywords: crop load; defoliation; Fragaria × ananassa Duch.; fruit growth; fruit thinning; leaf area; temperature; yield (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q15 Q16 Q17 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
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