Performance of strawberry (Fragaria × Ananassa Duch.) cv. ‘Sweet Sensation’ as influenced by different growing media under shadenet conditions

Abstract:

A field experiment was conducted at the Instructional Farm, Dr. Sharadchandra Pawar College of Agriculture, Baramati during the Rabi season of 2025–26 to study the influence of different growing media on plant growth and fruit yield of strawberry (Fragaria × ananassa Duch.) grown in growbags under shadenet conditions. The experiment was laid out in a Factorial Completely Randomized Design (FCRD) with three growing media, namely red soil + FYM (T₁), red soil + cocopeat (T₂) and red soil + vermicompost (T₃), with three replications. Growing media significantly influenced plant growth and yield attributes of strawberry. Among the growing media, red soil + vermicompost (T₃) recorded the highest plant height, leaf area and chlorophyll content, with values of 27.61 cm, 117.96 cm² and 46.34 SPAD units, respectively, at 120 days after transplanting. It also recorded the highest number of fruits per plant (17.17), average fruit weight (24.28 g) and fruit diameter (58.11 mm). The highest fruit yield was recorded with T₃ (14.08 t ha⁻¹), followed by red soil + cocopeat (T₂) (11.47 t ha⁻¹) and red soil + FYM (A₁) (9.04 t ha⁻¹). Thus, red soil + vermicompost was found to be the most suitable growing medium for obtaining superior plant growth and higher fruit yield of strawberry under shadenet growbag conditions.