THE EFFECT OF FERTILIZERS ON CROP YIELD, FRUIT QUALITY AND PLANT NUTRITION OF ORGANICALLY GROWN STRAWBERRY (Fragaria x ananassa Duch.)

Abstract

This study investigated the effects of different organic fertilizer applications on yield and quality of organically grown Albion strawberry variety. The scope of the study covers the use of vermicompost, farm manure and humic-fulvic acid as fertilizer. The yield per plant (g/plant), fruit weight (g), pH in juice, water-soluble-solids/acid ratio in juice, plant leaf area and plant nutrition were investigated. The results indicated that the differences between the applications in yield per plant were statistically significant. The higher total yields were obtained from vermicompost and humic-fulvic acid fertilizer applications with 190.61 g and 182.92 g per plant, respectively and the lowest yield was from farm manure with 95.30 g per plant. The biggest fruits were obtained from the vermicompost application (18.81 g). The difference between applications was not significant for fruit juice pH values. However, the highest total soluble solids (TSS)/acid ratio was obtained with 9.82 from humic-fulvic acid application. TSS/acid ratio in strawberries is an important quality criterion in determining the taste. Nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium and magnesium concentrations were found to be higher in the leaves of strawberry plants fertilized with vermicompost. The vermicompost fertilizer seems promising in organically grown strawberries nutrition.