International Journal of Horticulture, 2025, Vol.15, No.1, 21-28 http://hortherbpublisher.com/index.php/ijh 27 The variation involving several leaves may be because different varieties react differently to light, photoperiod, temperature, available metabolites, soil nutrient status, and how those metabolites are distributed to the above-ground plant parts (Tanaka and Muzata, 1974; Strik, 1988). Research has indicated that inherent genetic variation may result in fluctuation in leaf number leading to varied growth patterns even if varieties are grown under constant environmental parameters. Furthermore, different varieties may respond differently to photoperiod, light, temperature, and other factors, which could explain the variation in leaf numbers observed by Ashan et al. (2014). Singh et al. (2008) observed variations in plant canopy spread and plant height among different varieties which corroborates the current observation that the tropical and subtropical climatic conditions enhance the vegetative growth of strawberries resulting in higher vegetative growth. Earlier flowering in the variety ‘Winter Dawn’ might be due to its short-day behavior. According to Joolka and Badiyala (1983), variations in the chilling hours of different varieties also account for variations in the initiation of flowers as well as the duration of flowering. There is a positive correlation between vegetative characteristics like canopy, number of leaves, number of crowns, and number of flowers per plant (Girijalba et al., 2015). The favorable climatic conditions in the research area may have influenced early flowering. Differentiation in the number of flowers and variation in fruit set percentages was the major cause of variation in the amount of fruit per plant. The genetic composition and adaptability to the environment may also be the cause of varied fruit set percentages. Temperature had a marked effect on the number of flowers and fruits per plant. Elevated air temperatures during fruit setting and fruiting have been shown to harm fruit volume in sensitive cultivars (Das et al., 2015; Jami et al., 2015). Variety Winter Dawn exhibited precocious flowering and fruiting which might be due to its genetic makeup. This precocious flowering and fruiting have resulted in exceptionally high yields of Winter Dawn (Whitaker et al., 2015). Similarly higher average weight of fruits may be the result of balanced vegetative growth and the number of fruits in the plant. The balanced vegetative and reproductive growth leads to the A variety with a longer flowering period produces more fruit due to having a greater number of flowers. The shorter days to the first flowering and first fruit set in Winter Dawn may explain its higher flower and fruit count compared to other varieties. Higher fruit numbers have also resulted in higher yields in the variety Winter Dawn. Several authors supported our findings indicating that the choice of varieties can influence the fruit set and yield of strawberries (Simkova et al., 2023). Therefore, genetic makeup is a prime factor that impacts on quantity and quality of strawberry fruits. 5 Conclusion The findings of the research indicate that there were significant variations in different parameters for strawberry varieties. Among the tested varieties, Florida Festival and Sweet Sensation stood out as prominent in terms of vegetative parameters. However, for phenological and yield characteristics like number of flowers, number of fruits, and yield per plant Winter Dawn was found superior. These results can be milestones for selecting strawberry varieties suitable for the sub-tropical and tropical regions of Nepal. Authors’ contributions The conduction of research, data collection, and analysis was done by Bishal Shrestha, Prof. Kalyani Mishra Tripathi contributed to the research concepts, and Prof. Arjun Shrestha and Rajendra Gautam, PhD participated in the interpretation, and organization of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript. Acknowledgments We would like to acknowledge Mr. Shashan Devkota for his guidance in strawberry cultivation and Nepal Agrovine Private Limited for all the inputs provided for the research. Conflict of Interest Disclosure The authors affirm that this research was conducted without any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjQ4ODYzNA==