Evaluation of Quantitative and Qualitative Characteristics of Strawberry in Response to Bio- and Chemical Fertilizers

Application of bio-fertilizers alone or in combination with chemical fertilizers is astep towards sustainable agriculture and healthy agricultural production. The current experiment was laid out in arandomized complete block design with four replications in aresearch greenhouse. The treatments consisted of five different nutritional plans, i.e. bio-fertilizer, nitrogen fertilizer, bio-fertilizer plus nitrogen, conventional fertilizers and control (without fertilizer). The results showed that the highest fruits fresh weight was observed in conventional fertilizer treatment, which increased by 128% compared to the control treatment. The results showed that all nutritional plans could increase the number of fruits compared to the control treatment. The highest number of fruits was related to conventional fertilizer treatment. In comparison to control treatment, fruit length increased by 24, 66, 108 and 173% in bio-fertilizer, nitrogen, nitrogen+fertilizer and conventional fertilizer treatments, respectively. Areduction in total phenol content was observed at any treatment compared to control treatment were applied. The lowest nitrate content was found in control and bio-fertilizer treatments, whereas the highest content was related to chemical and conventional treatments. The highest and lowest vitaminC contents were seen in control and conventional treatments, respectively. The highest total soluble solid content was obtained in control treatment i.e. that total soluble solid content decreased due to fertilizers application. The Lvalue was found to be the same in all the treatments. However, aand bvalues in control treatment were less than that in fertilizer treatments. The maximum chewing ability was observed in bio-fertilizer treatment. Moreover, the highest level of taste was observed in conventional and bio-fertilizer+nitrogen treatments. Therefore, by replacing chemical fertilizers with bio-fertilizers or integrated application of these fertilizers, we can not only improve quantitative and qualitative characteristics in strawberry, but also contribute to sustainability and reduction of environmental contamination.