Response Of Growth, Productivity, And Marketability Of Strawberry To Potassium Silicates And Pomegranate Peel Aqueous Extract

Abstract

The experiment was conducted in one of the agricultural fields in Babil Governorate, Iraq, during the 2024 growing season on "Ruby Gem" strawberry plants obtained from Turkish companies to investigate how certain growth, productivity, and marketability characteristics of strawberry fruits are affected by potassium silicates at concentrations of 0, 2.50, and 5.00 mL/L and aqueous pomegranate peel extract at concentrations of 0, 5, and 10 g/L following ten days of storage at 2°C with relative humidity between 80 and 85%.  The findings indicated that potassium silicates applied topically at a dosage of 5.00 mL/L considerably raised the plant's height (20.74 cm), leaf count (37.20 leaves/plant), and fruit weight (30.33 g and fruit volume (56.23 mL), substantially lowering the weight loss percentage to 5.60% in contrast to the control treatment, which had the lowest values for these characteristics.  In comparison to the control, the maximum percentage of vitamin C (39.84%) was obtained at a concentration of 2.50 mL/L.  Plant height (19.98 cm), leaf number (34.05 leaves/plant), fruit weight (27.74 g), fruit volume (57.95 mL), and vitamin C content (41.94%) were among the features that were significantly raised by the aqueous pomegranate peel extract treatment at 10 g/L, while weight loss was decreased to 6.16%. compared to the control treatment. Plant height, leaf count, fruit weight, fruit volume, post-storage weight loss, and total soluble solids (TSS) percentage all significantly increased in the A2B2 interaction treatment (23.30 cm, 38.63 leaves/plant, 38.93 g, 61.24 mL, 4.66%, and 8.60%, respectively) in comparison to the other treatments.