Influence of boron and zinc on yield, nutrient uptake and quality of strawberry

Abstract

Strawberry (Fragaria X ananassa Duch.) is responsive to boron (B) and zinc (Zn) fertilizer application. Hence, an experiment was conducted in winter season of 2017-18 and 2018-19 to evaluate the effect of boron and zinc application on yield traits, yields, nutrient uptake and quality of strawberry. The experiment was planned with 16 treatment combinations involving four levels each of boron (0, 1, 2 and 3 kg ha⁻¹) and zinc (0, 2, 3 and 4 kg ha⁻¹) following factorial (4 × 4) randomized complete block design with three replications. As per results, application of B 2 kg ha⁻¹ and Zn 3 kg ha⁻¹ produced highest number of fruits (18.5) and most fruit yield (14.1 t ha⁻¹) with higher total soluble solids (7.50°Brix) and vitamin C (72.0 mg/100 g) and greatest B uptake (0.205 kg ha⁻¹) and Zn uptake (0.192 kg ha⁻¹).The interaction effect of boron and zinc was dominant. The result suggests that combined application of B 2 kg ha⁻¹ and Zn 3 kg ha⁻¹ can increase the quantity and quality of strawberry fruit. The present findings may have potential for the area where imbalance uses of boron and zinc fertilizer in strawberry cultivation.

Keywords:

• Boron
• nutrient uptake
• quality
• strawberry
• yield
• zinc

Acknowledgments

The authors are acknowledged to the Postharvest Technology Division and Soil Science Division, Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI), Gazipur Bangladesh, for use of laboratory facilities for determination of quality of strawberry and soil sample analysis.

Disclosure statement

No conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Funding

The authors are grateful to Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute under Ministry of Agriculture for financial support to conduct the research work.