Studies on the comparative performance of strawberry cultivars under mid-hill conditions of north-western Himalayas

A field trial was conducted during 2012 and 2013, to evaluate the performance of 13 strawberry genotypes under the mid-hill conditions of Himachal Pradesh. Strawberry cultivars, viz., Chandler, Camarosa, Confictura, Ofra, Festival, Sweet Charlie, Douglas, Ventana, Selva, Gorella, Pajaro, Eclair and Sequoia were planted on raised beds of 2 m x 2 m size at a spacing of 50 cm x 25 cm during first week of October in a randomized block design with three replications. The results revealed that the cultivars Festival and Camarosa were best with respect to the plant height and leaf area. The cultivars Sweet Charlie and Ofra were earliest to flower and the duration of flowering was longest in Camarosa and Sweet Charlie. The cultivars Festival, Chandler, Camarosa and Sweet Charlie stood promising with respect to yield and fruit size. The highest yield of 35.10 and 40.08 MT/ha during 2012 and 2013, respectively was recorded in cv. Chandler followed by cv. Festival (29.76 and 35.24 MT/ha during 2012 and 2013, respectively). The cultivar Festival produced berries of bigger size, weight and had more firmness as compared to cultivar Chandler. The TSS content was maximum in Sweet Charlie, which also recorded the lowest acid content. Sequoia recorded the highest anthocyanin content, followed by cultivars Camarosa and Festival.