Study on hardening and field survival of micropropagated plants of strawberry (Fragaria x ananassa duch.) under Punjab conditions

Being a high value crop, the strawberry (Fragaria ananassa Duch.) has gained enormous popularity with the growers of plains as well as hills. The present investigation was carried out during the year 2001-2002. The experimental plant material of cv. Chandler was raised through tissue culture on Murashige B Skoog (MS) nutrient medium using runner tips as explant. The MS medium supplemented with 6-benzyladenine (0.5 mg l(-1)) + indole-3-butyric acid (0.10 mg l(-1)) was used for shoot multiplication. The rooting was obtained on the same basal medium fortified with indole-3-butyric acid (1.00 mg l(-1)) alone. The micropropagated strawberry plants were hardened in polyethylene bags and plastic trays with 98 in-built small pots. The maximum survival during hardening was observed in polyethylene bags filled with soil and farmyard manure (1:1). The hardening carried out during the month of February gave maximum survival (71.50%) as compared to March (55.20%). The hardened plants were transferred in the field at two different dates viz. 1(st) April and 16(th) April and at two different spacing viz. 100 x 60 cm and 100 x 100 cm. The 1(st) April planting date was found slightly better for survival of micropropagated plants and showed as much as 94.45% survival after four weeks of transplanting in the field as compared to 92.22% of 16(th) April planting date. Planting distance had no effect on the survival percentage of plants.