Differences in carbohydrate content of waiting-bed strawberry plants during development in the nursery

During three seasons (1996-1997, 1997-1998 and 1998-1999), the evolution of starch and soluble sugars content in crown tissue of strawberry waiting-bed plants (cultivars 'Camarosa' and 'Pajaro') was determined. The study was carried out using plants from three nurseries located at different altitudes (10, 284 and 703 m) and plants were sampled from mid-September to mid-March. Starch accumulation tended to be higher in plants from the high elevation nursery, with no difference being recorded between the medium or low elevation nurseries, where the starch content depended on the temperatures of the year. Thus, only the use of high elevation waiting-beds is recommended for long-term cold-storage of plants. Starch content was higher in 'Camarosa' than in 'Pajaro' during the second part of the sampling period, but starch started to accumulate earlier in 'Pajaro'. Positive correlations between starch accumulation and the number of hours below 7 degreesC were found in both cultivars. With the same number of chilling hours, 'Camarosa' plants accumulated more starch than 'Pajaro' plants (on average for the three seasons and the three nursery locations), which implies that in a given season and/or nursery, 'Camarosa' plants could be lifted earlier than 'Pajaro' plants. No great variations in soluble sugar content were found between cultivars or locations. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.