Influence of Mulching and Fertigation on Morphological and Quality Attributes of Strawberry
Priya Meena
Department of Horticulture, School of Agricultural Sciences, Career Point University, Kota, Rajasthan, 320335, India.
Mahaveer Suman *
Department of Horticulture, School of Agricultural Sciences, Career Point University, Kota, Rajasthan, 320335, India.
Deva Ram Meghawal
Agri. Clinic and Agri. Business Centre (AC&ABC), Kota, India.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
The study used Randomized Block Design, which is a type of experimental design that helps investigate the effects of few factors simultaneously. The treatments comprising different mulches and fertigation viz. four types of mulching (black polythene, white polythene and 5 cm thick rice husk mulch) and three levels of fertigation (50%, 75% and 100% RDF through fertigation) and control. Among the various levels of fertigation and different types of mulches,maximum plant height, plant spread, plant weight (fresh and dry),fruit length, fruit width,fresh and dry fruit weight, maximum TSS, TSS/acid ratio, total sugar, reducing sugar, non-reducing sugar, ascorbic acid content, juice content and anthocyanin content was recorded in treatment Black polythene +100% RDF through fertigation. This aligns with the well-established understanding that both mulches and fertigation are critical factors in regulating the morphology and quality parameters of strawberry.
Keywords: Fertigation, growth, strawberry, sugar