Department of Plant Sciences

Strawberry nursery plants require chilling and also a high acquisition of phosphorus nutrition for helping capture and transfer energy for its rapid top growth. Soil phosphorus availability can be reduced in presence of high soil Fe, Ca and Mg concentrations in the adsorption process, which can vary with soil water content (SWC) and pH levels. A study was conducted in two commercial nursery plant production fields in the temperate Atlantic coastal areas in 2008. The objectives were to examine soil P availability, strawberry nursery plant propagation and P acquisition in relation to different soil pH, SWC and Ca, Mg and Fe concentrations. The cultivar ‘Strawberry Festival’ was used in the study and measurements were systematically taken along transects. The strawberry nursery plant propagation and productivity expressed using runners and daughter plants were significantly related to soil P availability, soil water and pH levels (0.50 < R2 < 0.61, P < 0.05). Soil soluble P concentrations were associated with soil water, pH and Ca, Mg and Fe concentrations. Strawberry produced 25 runners and 17 daughter plants in the soil with the optimal pH (6.5) and higher SWC and P availability, a 60% higher nursery productivity than that in the acidic soil (pH 5.7). Soil P concentrations were decreased while Ca, Mg and Fe cations were high in the acidic conditions. It was suggested that soil P could be fixed rapidly and thus result in low strawberry nursery productivity.