Effect of Planting and Harvesting Dates on Strawberry Fruit Quality under High Tunnels

Figures & data

Table 1. Environmental conditions inside the high tunnel during 2008–09 and 2009–10 seasons in Moguer, Huelva, Spain.

	2008–09				2009–10
	T° mean^z	T° Max.^y	T° Min.^x	HR mean	T° mean	T° Max.	T° Min.	HR mean
Month	(°C)			(%)	(°C)			(%)
November	11.7	19.0	5.4	61.7	11.9	19.5	5.7	63.5
December	10.5	17.8	5.8	79.9	10.1	18.2	5.5	82.5
January	10.3	17.5	5.5	80.0	9.9	17.2	4.8	81.7
February	11.7	19.8	5.6	74.8	8.4	15.0	3.1	86.1
March	15.2	24.0	9.3	66.8	11.5	19.5	5.3	76.7
April	15.3	23.5	8.7	65.7	15.8	24.0	8.8	70.8
May	18.9	27.1	12.1	60.5	17.8	25.9	11.0	70.6

^zMean temperature.

^yMaximum temperature.

^xMinimum temperature.

Table 2. Effects of cultivar, planting date, and harvest date in phenols and soluble solids content-titratable acidity ratio in strawberry production during 2008–09 and 2009–10 growing seasons in Moguer, Huelva, Spain.

Treatments^z
Cultivar (CV)	Planting date (PD)	Harvest (HVST)^y	Phenols^x (mg∙100 g^–1 FW)	SSC^w∙TA^–1v ratio
Camarosa	7 Oct.	Early	106.03efg	9.41e
		Late	116.12cde	7.27f
	21 Oct.	Early	116.12cde	9.55e
		Late	136.45a	7.30f
Sabrosa	7 Oct.	Early	105.37efg	12.49c
		Late	138.78a	8.64e
	21 Oct.	Early	112.70cde	11.23d
		Late	142.12a	9.29e
Aguedilla	7 Oct.	Early	107.53ef	9.52e
		Late	119.70bcd	7.53f
	21 Oct.	Early	112.37de	9.60e
		Late	123.62bc	6.87f
Fuentepina	7 Oct.	Early	95.70fg	14.83b
		Late	95.37g	12.20cd
	21 Oct.	Early	105.78efg	16.32a
		Late	131.28ab	11.84cd
Significance (P < 0.05)^z			*	*
CV × PD × HVST			*	*

^zValues followed by the same letter do not differ according to Fisher’s-protected least significant difference at the 5% level.

^yEarly and late harvests correspond to mid-February and mid-April, respectively.

^xExpressed as mg of gallic acid per 100 g of fresh weight.

^wSoluble solids content.

^vTitratable acidity.

*P < 0.05.

Table 3. Effects of cultivar and harvest date in titratable acidity, soluble solids content, and vitamin C content in strawberry production during 2008–09 and 2009–10 growing seasons in Moguer, Huelva, Spain.

Treatments^z
Cultivar (CV)	Harvest (HVST)^y	Titratable acidity^x (g∙100 g^–1 FW)	Soluble solids content (°Brix)	Vitamin C^w (mg∙100 g^–1 FW)
Camarosa	Early	0.71d	6.72c	36.08c
	Late	1.02a	7.36bc	33.83cd
Sabrosa	Early	0.72cd	8.49a	42.66ab
	Late	0.90b	7.98ab	40.16b
Aguedilla	Early	0.76c	7.22bc	44.16a
	Late	0.94b	6.74c	35.08c
Fuentepina	Early	0.46f	7.21bc	40.41b
	Late	0.64e	7.61b	31.16d
Significance (P < 0.05)		*	*	*
CV × HVST		*	*	*

^zValues followed by the same letter do not differ according to Fisher’s-protected least significant difference at the 5% level.

^yEarly and late harvests correspond to mid-February and mid-April, respectively.

^xExpressed as g of citric acid per 100 g of fresh weight.

^wExpressed as mg of ascorbic acid per 100 g of fresh weight.

*P < 0.05.

Table 4. Effects of cultivar and harvest date in vitamin C content in strawberry production during 2008–09 and 2009–10 growing seasons in Moguer, Huelva, Spain.

Treatments^z
Planting date (PD)	Harvest (HVST)^y	Vitamin C^x (mg∙100 g^–1 FW)
7 October	Early	36.66b
	Late	35.79b
21 October	Early	45.00a
	Late	34.33c
Significance (P < 0.05)^z		*
PD × HVST		*

^zValues followed by the same letter do not differ according to Fisher’s protected least significant difference at the 5% level.

^yEarly and late harvests correspond to mid-February and mid-April, respectively.

^xExpressed as mg of ascorbic acid per 100 g of fresh weight.

*P < 0.05.