Growth and yield performance of strawberry (Fragaria × ananassa Duch.) as influenced by variety and mulch materials

Application of mulch materials in strawberry cultivation may have significant impact on quality fruit production in Bangladesh. Therefore, this study was undertaken in order to explore the effects of different mulch materials on plant growth and fruit yield of strawberry (Fragaria× ananassa Duch.). The factorial experiment consisted of two strawberry varieties namely Rabi strawberry^-1 and Rabi strawberry^-3 and four mulch materials viz.no mulch (control), rice straw, water hyacinth and black polythene mulches. The experiment was laid out in a randomized complete block design with three replications. The influences of strawberry variety, mulch material and their combinations showed significant variations on plant growth, yield contributing characters and fruit yield. The two varieties differed significantly in respect of all the parameters studied. Number of leaves, leaf length, plant height and fruit yield were found higher in Rabi strawberry^-1. It was also found that mulching treatments enhanced vegetative as well as reproductive growth of strawberry thus improved fruit yield as compared to control treatment. Among the mulch materials, black polythene gave the highest plant height (26.83 cm), leaf length (27.35 cm), number of leaves (8.00) at different growth stages, number of inflorescence (12.50), number of fruits plant^-1 (33.00), fruit length (51.45 mm), fruit fresh weight (23.01 g fruit^-1) and fruit yield (613.37 g plant^-1).The combined effects of variety and mulch treatments showed significant variation on plant growth and yield of strawberry. However, the highest fruit yield (569.62 g plant^-1) was achieved from the combination of Rabi strawberry^-1 with black polythene mulch.