"Nano foliar calcium fertilization in response to yield, quality and phytochemicals of strawberry

Abstract

ABSTRACT

Objective: To evaluate the foliar application of Calcium (Ca²⁺) nanofertilizer on the yield, fruit quality, total phytochemicals and capacity of two strawberry cultivars 'Monterrey' and 'Albion' of fragaria x annanassa Duch.

Design/methodology/approach: Three foliar calcium treatments were established (two commercial foliar fertilizers, one nanofertilizer). The doses used were 2.5, 5 and 7 mEq/L and were applied at the stages of beginning of flowering, full flowering, end of flowering, fruit setting and active production. The design of the experiment was randomized blocks in four repetitions, each repetition consisted of one square meter; equivalent to 16 plants. An analysis of variance was performed and the Tukey test at 5% was applied for comparison of means.

Results: The results indicate that doses of 2.5 mEq/L for the 'Monterrey' cultivar and 5 mEq/L for the 'Albion' cultivar favored the increase in total phenolics, total flavonoids, total anthocyanins, antioxidant capacity and the highest performance by obtaining 13.00 kg/m2 and 12.59 kg/m2 respectively.

Findings/conclusions: Which indicates that the use of nano-calcium as a foliar fertilizer could be a competent tool that helps improve the bioactive compounds of strawberry fruits and yields.