Strawberry (Fragaria x Ananasa Duch) Growth, Flowering and Yielding as Affected by Different Organic Matter Sources

An experiment was carried out during the 2006/2007 season, under plastichouse conditions at a Station of Princess Tasneem Bent Ghazi for Technological Research in Humrat Al-Sahen; about 25 km from As Salt-Jordan, to compare the effect of four fermented organic matter sources (cattle, poultry and sheep manure in addition to 1:1:1 mixture of the three organic matter sources) in which 4 kg organic matter/m2 were used, with that of the conventional fertilizer (chemical fertilizers) and control (no chemical nor organic fertilizers were used) treatments on strawberry cultivar Camaroza by using a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with four replicates. The highest vegetative growth (number of leaves/plant, plant fresh and dry weight) was found in the conventional treatment, while the highest root/canopy percent was obtained by the mixture manure treatment. Organic matter accelerated flowering date, while the conventional treatment delayed it. Conventional treatment produced the highest total yield per replicate and fruit weight. On the other hand the length of the production period was not significantly affected by the different used treatments. A significant interaction between manure source and the harvest date was found; the highest yield was obtained by the poultry manure treatment in April, while the lowest yield was obtained by the sheep manure treatment in May.