Influence of Nitrogen Nutrition on Yield and Growth of an Everbearing Strawberry Cultivar (cv. Evie II)

Strawberry plants are relatively unresponsive to nitrogen (N) fertilization. Supraoptimal N application also results in excessive vegetative growth, which competes to reproductive growth. Two strawberry field experiments were conducted for two consecutive years using fertigation to investigate the effect of different nitrogen (N) application rates on yield and growth of an everbearing strawberry (cv. Evie II). N was injected weekly into the drip irrigation system at 0, 0.5, 1, 3, and 6kg N/ha/week the first year and 0, 1, 2, and 3kg N/ha/week the next year. Fruit yield and fruit number were not affected the first year, but were increased the second year due to N application. However, there was no effect of N nutrition on average berry weight for both years. It was concluded that N fertilization may increase yield and fruit number, but average berry weight remains unaffected.