Impacts of different planting times on fruit quality and some bioactive contents of different strawberry cultivars

ABSTRACT Strawberry fruit quality traits can be affected by genotype-environment interactions, which determine the consumer acceptance of fruits. This factorial experiment was based on completely randomised blocks (RCBD) with two planting dates (5 and 20 April) and cultivars (‘Albion’, ‘San Andreas’ and ‘Portola’) of strawberry with three replications, and some of pomological and qualitative factors of berry were investigated at harvest. The results showed no significant difference on fruit width, length, weight and firmness, while the plant yield and stem diameter (SD) were affected by different cultivars and planting dates. The minimum SD (19.80) was recorded in cv. ‘Portola’ in the planting date of 20 April. Although the lowest fruit yield was achieved in cv. ‘Portola’ at both planting dates, it had the highest titratable acidity (TA) (0.83%) at the first planting date (5 April). The amount of soluble solid concentration (SSC), electrolyte conductivity (EC), pH, TA and chlorophyll were not affected by cultivar and planting dates. The effect of planting dates and cultivar had no significant effect on berry colour. The highest total phenolic (275.44 mg GAE · 100 mL -1 FW) was recorded in cv. ‘San Andreas’ on the planting date of 20 April, while the lowest value (251.22 mg GAE · 100 mL -1 FW) was recorded in cv. ‘Portola’ on the planting date of 5 April. In general, it is suggested that the least fruit yield in strawberry cv. ‘Portola’ can be correlated with the least SD of the cultivar.