Yield and quality of two strawberry varieties (Fragaria x ananassa Duch) in hydroponia in Santa Cruz

The cultivation of strawberries (Fragaria x ananassa) is spread throughout the world and in Argentina production has increased in recent years. Southern Patagonia has adverse climatic conditions and this crop must be developed under cover. Hydroponic technology is presented as an alternative to obtain increased performance and more efficient use of water and resources. We evaluated the performance of two strawberry varieties (Fern and Sweet Ann) under hydroponic technology in NFT. Mean yields obtained were 85.3 and 45.9 g/plant/month for Sweet and Fern, respectively and total production in the period was 511.8 (+/- 78) y 275.5 (+/- 64) for Sweet and Fern, respectively. In terms of quality, Sweet presented higher average fruit weight (16.8 g/fruit) and pH (3.6) than Fern. No significant differences were found in total soluble solids (9.5 degrees Brix). The results of the present study show that the production of strawberries, especially the Sweet variety, in NFT hydroponic system would be a viable productive option for intensive production in Patagonia, since the yield and fruit quality values are among those obtained for this cultivation in conventional systems or are even higher than those reported for this zone.