Vol. 81 No: 6

Title:
Characterisation of the thermodormancy response in the everbearing strawberry 'Everest'

Authors:
ALEXANDRA WAGSTAFFE and NICK H. BATTEY

pp: 1086-1092

Abstract:
Temperature regimes that induce and ameliorate cropping troughs (“thermodormancy”) were evaluated over two seasons for the everbearing strawberry ´Everest`.When plants were exposed to 26°C for 5, 10, 20 or 30 d in July, heatinduced troughs in cropping were observed in August. An important discovery was that cool (13°C) night temperatures ameliorated the severity of thermodormancy. In this study, thermodormancy appeared to be due principally to flower abortion post-anthesis, as large numbers of flowers emerged in mid-July, during the high temperature treatments, but went on to produce low fruit numbers in mid-August. Flower initiation itself (monitored by crown dissection) was not reduced by high temperatures. The observation that night-time temperature is critical for thermodormancy has significance for commercial production, in which protected cropping tends to increase average temperatures throughout the season, and venting tends to focus on day-time temperatures.

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