Production and quality aspects of strawberries cultivated under organic management

Strawberry cultivation is related to the interaction of cultivars with the environment and the adopted cultivation system. Thus, the objective of this study was to evaluate the production of strawberry cultivars on a bench under organic management. The experiments were conducted in location Verê, in 2016/2017, and in Francisco Beltrão, Paraná State, Brazil, during 2017/2018. A completely randomized design was used in both locations, with six cultivars and four replications. The evaluated production traits were total production of fruits per plant (TFP), commercial production fruit per plant (CFP), total number of fruits per plant (TNF), commercial number of fruits per plant (CNF), and average fresh fruit mass (AFFM). Fruit quality parameters were also measured: pH, total soluble solids (TSS), total titratable acidity (TTA), and the TSS/TTA ratio. Regarding the content of anthocyanins, the compounds pelargonidin 3-O-glucoside (Pgd-3-glu), cyanidin 3-O-glucoside (Cyn-3-glu), and pelargonidin chloride were identified by HPLC–DAD, and total phenols were determined by colorimetric method of Folin-Ciocalteu. The neutral-day cultivars Portola and San Andreas presented the highest production in both locations, while short-day cultivars presented the lowest. Otherwise, the short-day cultivars Camino Real and Pircinque presented the best composition in terms of quality parameters, anthocyanins, and total phenols, respectively. It indicates that the short-day cultivars do not present adaptation for the region where they were evaluated. More studies are necessary to identify short-day cultivars with adaptation for the southwest region of Paraná state, Brazil.