Evaluations of Strawberry Selections Bred for Plastic Mulch Production In Eastern North America

Growers in eastern North America have adopted a plastic mulch system of strawberry production over the past two decades.  Most of the growers who have adopted this system have been using selected cultivars developed in other regions of the U.S. and/or are using cultivars developed for traditional matted row production systems.  The goal of the Rutgers New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station (NJAES) strawberry breeding program is to develop selections better adapted to the plastic mulch systems in the eastern states.  Field trials were established in New Jersey and North Carolina to evaluate the performance of several NJAES selections compared to commercial cultivars.  In one NJ trial, two of the selections had marketable fruit yields no different than the cultivar ‘Chandler’ but had significantly larger average fruit size (21.9g and 22.6g) compared to ‘Chandler’ (19.2g).  In North Carolina these same selections had lower yields (22,214 lb/A and 22,756 lb/A) in comparison to ‘Chandler’ (28,352 lb/A), but higher yields than the other cultivars in the trial.  Average fruit size of the two NJAES selections was not significantly different in comparison to ‘Chandler’ but average °Brix from three harvests was significantly higher (8.3 °Bx and 8.0 °Bx versus 7.2 °Bx).  These two selections are being considered for commercial release after data is collected from similar trials in spring 2011.