Strawberry Cultivar Analysis: Temperature and Pollination Studies

Strawberry is a life-support-system candidate crop species that is long-lived, asexually propagated, and can bear large quantities of fruit high in sugar and antioxidant content. Strawberries of four-day-neutral cultivars ( Tribute, Tristar, Seascape, and Fern ) and one everbearing cultivar ( Cavendish ) were grown under greenhouse conditions or varying temperature regimes in three growth chambers. Flowers in growth chambers were hand pollinated three-times weekly with stored pollen, and ripe berries were harvested, counted, weighed, and tested organolepticly. In the greenhouse, two different pollination treatments were compared, while another group of plants was left unpollinated, receiving only occasional mechanical stimulation from normal greenhouse airflow, berry harvest, and plant maintenance. A second group was pollinated with a vibrating wand, and a third group was hand pollinated with stored pollen. The time required for each method was compared along with berry productivity. Description:15 page