International Journal of Horticulture, 2025, Vol.15, No.1, 21-28 http://hortherbpublisher.com/index.php/ijh 23 2.5 Intercultural operations To ensure the establishment of the plants, overhead irrigation was applied for a week following transplanting. After that, water and fertilizers were supplied through the drip irrigation system. Until three months after planting, a fertigation rate of 4 kg/ha/week of 3:5:4 NPK application was maintained. From three months after planting until harvest, a fertigation rate of 4 kg/ha/week of 3:1:4 NPK application was adopted. Fertigation was done 2-3 times per week depending upon the weather. 2.6 Observations taken Ten randomly selected plants were tagged for data collection from each experimental unit. Various growth, phenological, and yield parameters were evaluated from tagged sample plants. Plant height was measured from the base of the plant i.e., ground level of the crown to the tip of the plant on a centimeter scale from 30 DAT to the end of the experiment at 15-day intervals. The canopy diameters from East to West and North to South were taken using a centimeter scale from 30 DAT to the end of the experiment at a 15-day interval. The average number of leaves per plant was manually counted. The number of days until the initial flowering and the start of blooming were noted. The percentage of fruit set was also determined. The total number of fruits collected, their average weight in grams, and the yield per plant were recorded. Similarly, yield per hectare was also calculated by multiplying the average yield per plant and the total number of plants per hectare. Harvesting took place when the fruits reached 70% ripeness indicating physiological maturity. 2.7 Statistical analysis Statistical analysis and comparisons among treatment means were conducted for the selected parameters following Gomez and Gomez (1984). The statistical software R-stat (version 4.2.1) was used for statistical analysis. Mean separation was carried out using the Least Significant Difference (LSD) at a significance level of 0.05 (p˂0.05). 3 Results and Analysis 3.1 Vegetative parameters The results showed that significant variations were found among the different strawberry varieties at 30, 45, 60, 75, 90, 105, and 120 DAT in terms of plant height (Table 2). At 30 DAT, the variety Florida Festival showed the maximum plant height (15.30 cm) which was on par with the variety Sweet Sensation (15.08 cm) and Ruby Gem (14.64 cm) while the minimum plant height (5.24 cm) was recorded in variety Nyho. At 45 DAT, variety Florida Festival had the highest plant height (23.41 cm) followed by variety Sweet Sensation (19.06 cm) and Ruby Gem (18.82 cm), whereas variety Nyho recorded the lowest plant height (6.35 cm). Similar results were observed at 60, 75, 90, 105, and 120 DAT with the maximum plant height in the variety Florida Festival followed by Sweet Sensation and Ruby Gem whereas the minimum plant height was recorded in the variety Nyho. At the final growth stage i.e., 120 DAT the maximum plant height (44.95 cm) was measured in variety Florida Festival, whereas the minimum plant height (13.45 cm) was measured in Nyho, respectively. There was significant variation among different strawberry varieties at 30, 45, 60, 75, 90, 105, and 120 DAT in number of trifoliate leaves (Table 3). At 30 DAT, the variety Sweet Sensation had the maximum number of trifoliate leaves (9.01), which was at par with Florida Festival (8.51) and Florida Beauty (8.31). The minimum number of trifoliate leaves (4.08) was observed in Winter Dawn. At 45 DAT, the Florida Festival had the maximum number of trifoliate leaves (16.32), while Winter Dawn had the minimum (7.11). At 60 DAT, the maximum number of trifoliate leaves (22.47) was observed in a variety that was comparable to Sweet Sensation (22.15), and the minimum number of trifoliate leaves (11.37) was observed in Nyho. The same trend was observed at 75 DAT and 90 DAT. Florida Festival had the maximum number of trifoliate leaves (30.06) at 75 DAT, comparable to Sweet Sensation (29.04), while Nyho had the minimum (13.66). At 90 DAT, Florida Festival and Sweet Sensation both had the maximum number of trifoliate leaves (34.61 and 33.24, respectively), and Nyho had the minimum (15.36). At 105 DAT, 120 DAT with the maximum number of trifoliate leaves was
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