A study on environmental factors affecting strawberry yield using pattern recognition techniques

Abstract

The blueberries are so crowded because of their properties and healthy benefits, furthermore the size and flavour are some attributes needed for its commercialization, and nutrition could be influence these attributes. We determined the effect of nitrate/ammonium ratio and electrical conductivity on blueberry&apos;s quality. The study was carried out from August 2016 to May 2017 at University of Chapingo, Mexico, under hydroponic and greenhouse conditions, cultivar Biloxi was used. A factorial experiment was used with two factors and three levels for each one, electrical conductivity at levels of 1.0, 1.5 and 2.0 dS m-1 and nitrate:ammonium ratio (NAR) of 50:50, 30:70 and 10:90, resulting in nine treatments; for each one a hydroponic solution was supply, pH value was 5.0 for all nutrient solutions. The determined response variables were fruit yield, total soluble solids (°Brix), fruit size arrangement in three categories (<9, 10-17 and >17 mm of diameter) and anthocyanins content (evaluated for each nutritional treatment and each fruit size category). Fruit yield was statistically different (p≥0.05), the treatment of electrical conductivity 1.5 dS m-1 and 30:70 NAR was the most outstanding, the NAR was the most influential factor in all measured variables. Respect to the total soluble solids, there was not observed statistical significant difference, which varied from 14.4 to 15.44 °Brix; anthocyanin&apos;s content was strongly influenced by fruit size, the average of the largest fruit category was 85 mg 100 g-1, in contrast the smallest blueberries recorded an average of 141 mg 100 g-1. © 2019 International Society for Horticultural Science. All rights reserved.