Filocrono de plantas matrizes e produção de pontas de estolão de morango

Abstract

Strawberry is commonly considered the queen of red fruits, constituting a great option for cultivation and farmer´s income. In Brazil, its cultivation is expanding and plays an important socio-economical role for strawberry growers. Most farmers depend on importing bare root plantlets, due to the scarcity of good quality material available in Brazil. For that reason, the Federal University of Santa Maria (UFSM) has been developing new technologies that resulted in a patent invention (PI1105802-1) and licensing for the production of plug plantlets from runner tips taken early from the sock plant. The aim of this work was to study the phyllochron of stock plants and the production of strawberry runner tips in a closed soilless cultivation system. The Albion and Estiva cultivars and the advanced clone A of strawberry were evaluated in the 2021/22 and 2022/23 grown seasons. Weekly evaluations of the production of runner tips, leaf area, number of leaves, and dry matter removed at each green pruning were carried out. The experiments were carried out in a greenhouse at the Breeding and Vegetative Propagation Center, of the Department of Plant Science of the UFSM. The phyllochron of the stock plant and the leafshape coefficient for estimating the leaf area varies with the evaluated cultivar. The dry mass of the removed leaves for the adjustment of the leaf area index is relatively constant after the establishment of the stock plants. The production of runner tips varies with the cultivar and with the time of collection, indicating that there are production peaks that are characteristic of each strawberry cultivar.