Use of sawdust, coco soil and pumice in hydroponically grown strawberry

Abstract

Strawberry (Fragaria × ananassa Duch.) plants were grown hydroponically in different ratio of sawdust (Saw-100), coco soil (Coc-100) and/or pumice (Pum-100) mixtures. Leaf number doubled in plants grown in Saw-100 while runners (stolons) number increased up to 70% in plants grown in Coc-100 compared with the control treatment (Pum-100). Fruit number increased (up to 50%) in plants grown in Pum-100. Leaf stomatal conductance, photo-synthetic rate and internal concentration of CO2 differentiated according to the plant vegetative or reproductive stage and/or substrate medium. Leaf and stem fresh weight as well as leaf area was increased (up to 32, 24 and 44%, respectively) in case of Coc-100 compared with the Saw-100 or Pum-100. Plant yield was doubled when Pum-Saw (50-50) was used compared with the Saw-100, which is due to the reduced fruit number produced rather than the difference in fruit fresh weight. Substrate affected fruit quality parameters. The present findings highlight the puta-tive use of organic medium i.e. Sawdust on top of the widely used coco soil as substrate medium in strawberry cul-ture.