HEAT REQUIREMENT OF TWO SELECTIONS AND FOUR STRAWBERRY CULTIVARS GROWN IN THE CATARINENSE PLATEAU

The objective of this study was to estimate the thermal accumulation and phyllochron of four cultivars and two selections of strawberry in the Southern Brazil. The research was carried out in the experimental field at the Centro de Ciencias Agroveterinarias, in the University of Santa Catarina, Lages, SC. It was used two advanced knowledge selection of strawberry, called 'SEL1' and 'SEL2', with plants from a public breeding program in Italy and four cultivars: Camino Real and Camarosa, with plants from Chile; San Andreas and Albion from Argentina. The transplant occurred in 06-26-2012. The experimental design was randomized blocks with three repetitions, where the experimental unit was composed of eight plants, using the four central plants. The phyllochron was estimated as the inverse of the angular coefficient of the linear regression between the number of stem leaf and the thermal time after transplantation. It was observed linearity between plant development and the average air temperature in the conditions of the study. Among the selections and cultivars studied the San Andreas features the earliest cycle requiring less accumulation temperature (774.70 degree-day) and the cultivar Camarosa the latest cycle with greater accumulation of thermal sum (1137.75 degree-day). The selection SEL1 had the shortest phyllochron, 69.96 oC day(1) leaf(-1) and the cultivar Albion higher value, 135.61 degrees C day(1) leaf(-1). During the study period the cultivar San Andreas showed higher fruit production.