Resumen de Crecimiento y producción de fresa (fragaria x ANANASSA DUCH) en sustratos a base de compostas.
Horacio Alvarado Raya, Maria Tavera, Gustavo Mena, Guillermo Calderón, R. López, Edmar Salinas
Pot production for strawberry has been proposed as a technique which can avoid methyl bromide utilization and peat moss is the main substrate amendment for pot production. Peat moss industry is currently having environmental observations and it is necessary to find a sustainable substitute for peat as a pot substrate amendment. This research compared peat moss to compost from both cow manure and sheep manure. Both compost types were mixed at rates of 0, 25, 50 and 75% with a previous mixture of perlite and pet (1:1). From those treatments without compost, one of them was fertilized weekly with 1.0 g of 12-11-18-3 (N, P, K and Mg) and the other one had no chemical fertilization. There were also treatments made of compost and perlite solely (1:1). In general, compost from sheep manure resulted in more fruits per plant (p<0.0001), but compost from cow manure resulted in wider fruit diameters (p<0.0001) while fruit weight remained relatively unaffected (p<0.012). Compost from seep manure at 50% in the substrate yielded the highest (p<0.0001). Plants grown in substrate with compost but no peat yielded statistically similar than those grown in the substrates with any of the peat-compost mixture and were statistically superior to plants grown with chemical fertilizer. Dry matter allocation to plant parts depended on compost type and concentration in the media, but the addition of peat to the media had no effect on this variable (p<0.05). Total dry matter per plant was greater in plants grown in media with sheep manure than in plants grown in any of the peat-perlite mixture (p<0.005). Treatments did not affect clearly fruit quality, even though fruit firmness and Total Soluble Solids (TSS) tended to be higher with compost in media. Leaf mineral content was no affected by treatments except for manganese (Mn), which was statistically lower in leaves from plants grown with compost. It is concluded that compost may be an effective substitute for peat for strawberry pot production, but compost concentration in the substrate must be considered.
