Comparison of field performance and fruit quality among newly released Italian June-bearing strawberry cultivars

Abstract

The aim of this study was to compare newly released June-bearing strawberry cultivars (‘Quicky’, ‘Sandra’, ‘Lofty’, ‘Nadja’ and ‘Aprica’) in terms of their phenology, vegetative growth, productivity and fruit quality to identify their potential for wider cultivation. A field study was conducted in a strawberry plantation established in July 2020 in double rows on beds covered with black polyethylene foil (Šid, Serbia). The cultivars were evaluated in 2021–2022 for their flowering and ripening time, productivity, plant growth, biometrical and nutritional fruit traits (soluble solids content – SSC, total acids – TAs, vitamin C, total anthocyanins – TACY, total phenolics – TPC and total antioxidant capacity – TAC). The cultivar ‘Quicky’ started to ripen earliest, while ‘Aprica’ was the latest in both experimental years. The number of branch crowns per plant was significantly higher in ‘Sandra’ and ‘Lofty’, whereby ‘Sandra’ had also the highest number of leaves per rosette (41.5) in comparison with the other tested cultivars. The cultivar ‘Aprica’ was superior in terms of productivity (1061 g/plant and 4.67 kg/m2 ), fruit weight (29.9 g) and fruit shape index (1.15). Contrary to this, ‘Nadja’ was the least productive cultivar (608 g/plant and 2.68 kg/m2). The cultivars ‘Lofty’ and ‘Sandra’ showed the highest SSC values and were also characterized by a considerably high level of TPC (1.29 mg GAE eq g-1 FW) and TACY (24.4 mg pg-3-g eq 100 g-1 FW), respectively. Variability among the tested cultivars could serve as an important criterion for the selection of new high-performing cultivars for a given growing region.