Department of Rural Development and Agricultural Production, North Eastern Hills University, Tura Campus, Tura-794002, Meghalaya, India
Online published on 21 March, 2016.
An experiment was conducted to find out the effect of plant spacing on growth, flowering, fruiting, yield and quality of strawberry (Fragaria ananassa) cv. Festival in West Garo Hills of Meghalaya during 2014–2015. The study area is situated approximately between the longitudes 90° 30 ’and 89° 40'E, and the latitudes of 26° and 25° 20 ’N. The runners of strawberry were planted under nine different spacings, viz. T1-15 × 25 × 100 cm, T2-15 × 30 × 100 cm, T3-15 × 35 × 100 cm, T4-20 × 25 × 100 cm, T5-20 × 30 × 100 cm, T6-20 × 35 × 100 cm, T7-25 × 25 × 100 cm, T825 × 30 × 100 cm, T9-25 × 35 × 100 cm (plant to plant, row to row and trench to trench). The highest plant height and spread in North-South and East-West direction were recorded with a spacing of 15 cm × 25 cm × 100 cm (T1). The highest TSS: acid ratio of fruits (36.80) was observed in T7 (25 cm × 25 cm × 100 cm). Plants spaced at 15 cm × 30 cm × 100 cm (T2) produced highest number of flowers and fruits, fruit setting, larger fruits of higher fruit weight, highest yield/plant and highest productivity per hectare and also highest vitamin C content in fruits.
Strawberry, Yield, Quality, West Garo Hills, Plant spacing
