Produtividade e qualidade do morangueiro em sistemas fechados de cultivo sem solo

Abstract

The objective of the research was to determine the strawberry fruit yield and quality in three different closed soilless systems with two substrates. The experiment was conducted in a screenhouse in the Department of Fitotecnia at the Universidade Federal de Santa Maria, from April to November, 2006. The experimental set up was a 3 x 2 factorial design with four replications. Treatments were the three soilless systems and the two substrates. The soilless systems consist of plastic bags, plastic troughs and growing beds, all of them elevated from the soil. The substrates were an inert substrate (sand) and an organic substrate (Plantmax PXT®). Drip fertigation was used in the plastic bags, while subirrigation was done in the other two systems. A standard complete nutrient solution was utilized and there was not any disposal of it during the experiment. A significant interaction among substrates and systems was observed. In the case of the sand, best results were obtained with plastic troughs reaching a mean fruit yield of 122.09 t ha-1, which was 8.13% e 8.33% higher than the plastic bags and the growing beds, respectively. In the case of the organic substrate, the mean fruit yield in the system of growing beds (143.58 t ha-1) was 10.9% and 29.33% superior to the plastic bags and plastic troughs, respectively. Neither the soilless systems nor the substrates influenced the fruit quality characteristics of firmness, soluble solids and titratable acidity.