Agrology Success Stories: Increase of Strawberry Firmness and Shelf-Life

Increase of Strawberry Firmness and Shelf-Life

Through Agrology Success Stories in Greece and Abroad, it is proven that the superior quality and integrated innovative technologies of Agrology’s Functional Crop Nutrition^® products, make a difference in crops from the very first applications!

Our goal is to demonstrate that application programs with Agrology’s Functional Crop Nutrition^® products are an obvious investment for producers, as the financial benefits exceed the cost of supplemental applications!

One such Success Story was carried out in strawberry (SS 2018_8_GR) in collaboration with the Agricultural Supplies Store and Nutrimaster Lainas P., in 2018. Throughout the process, the farmer benefited from the continuous guidance and support offered by Agrology’s Technical Department and the collaborating agricultural store.

The field was divided into two equal plots, one was used as the Control, while Agrology’s Program was applied to the other plot. In both plots, the farmer used the same plant protection and plant nutrition-fertilization program, apart from the additional applications with Agrology’s Functional Crop Nutrition® products.

Identity of the Success Story

The Program included the implementation of Specialized and Innovative Plant Nutrition Product, Gravital^® Force SC. It is important to mention the importance of application timing, that allowed producer to maximize the agronomic benefits.

The objectives of this Success Story were as follows:

Increase Fruit Resistance against post-harvest rotting
Increase Fruit Durability against post harvesting chain handling
Improve Strawberries Firmness (reducing the “maceration” of the strawberry fruits)
Reduce Total Fruit Losses in retail market
Increase Strawberry Shelf-life

General Info of the Success Story

Cultivation Season: 2017-2018
Location: Kapeleto, Ilia
NutriMaster^®: Lainas P.
Farmer: Athanasopoulos Nikolaos
Cultivation: Greenhouse Strawberry
Variety: Fortuna
Area of Success Story: 1 ha
Date of transplaning: 18/10/2017, 68.000 plants/ha
Irrigation system: Drip irrigation
Plant Protection Program: Common to the whole area

Success Story Goals

By applying Agrology’s Functional Crop Nutrition^® products during specific growth stages, farmer managed to achieve significant agronomic benefits for the crop.

The main Objectives of this Success Story were as follows:

Increase Fruit Resistance against post-harvest rotting
Improve Strawberries Firmness
Reduce Total Fruit Losses in retail market
Increase Strawberry Shelf-life

Agrology’s Functional Crop Nutrition® Program

Beginning of applications: 15 December 2017 – Vegetation development till inflorescence.

Picture 2. Application Program - Growth Stage — Picture 2. **Functional Crop Nutrition®** Program

Silicon and calcium biostimulant (35.0% w/v SiO2 & 35.0% w/v CaO) with a high percentage of available orthosilicic acid, which is the absorbable and assimilable form of silicon by plants:

Improved N, P, K uptake (SiO₂)
Vital for cell wall strength (CaO)
Increase resistance to stress (SiO2)
Increased fruit firmness and Postharvest Life (CaO)

Application Timings:

1^st Application: 15 December
2^nd Application: 15 January
3^dApplication: 15 February
4^th Application: 15 March

Application Intervals:

1 per month

Recommended Dosage

Fertigation – 20 L/ha

Success Stories Results

Measurements during fruit storage revealed impressive results in the Agrology treatment. Specifically, the results were as follows:

Improvement in Strawberries Firmness
Reduction to the number of rotten/softened fruits after 5, 6 & 7 days of maintenance at room temperature

Picture 3. Strawberry Samples of Control (upper row) and Agrology’s Program (Gravital® Force, down row), after non-refrigerated maintenance (at room temperature) for 5, 6 & 7 days (From left to right). — Picture 3. Strawberry Samples of Control (upper row) and Agrology’s Program (**Gravital^® Force SC**, down row), after non-refrigerated maintenance (at room temperature) for 5, 6 & 7 days (From left to right). The white circles indicate areas of soft fruit pulp and/or fungal infections.

Picture 4. Strawberry fruit samples with Gravital® Force (left) and Control (right), after maintenance at room temperature, for 5 days after harvest. The white circles indicate areas of soft fruit pulp and/or fungal infections. — Picture 4. Strawberry fruit samples with **Gravital^® Force SC** (left) and Control (right), after maintenance at room temperature, for 5 days after harvest. The white circles indicate areas of soft fruit pulp and/or fungal infections.

Picture 5. Strawberry fruit samples with Gravital® Force (left) and Control (right), after maintenance at room temperature, for 7 days after harvest. The white indicate areas of soft fruit pulp and/or fungal infections. — Picture 5. Strawberry fruit samples with **Gravital^® Force SC** (left) and Control (right), after maintenance at room temperature, for 7 days after harvest. The white circles indicate areas of soft fruit pulp and/or fungal infections.

Picture 6. Strawberry fruit samples with **Gravital^® Force SC** (left) and Control (right), maintaned at room temperature for 7 days after harvesting. The yellow circles indicate areas of fruit infected by fungal diseases.

Reduction of Total Fruit Losses percentage due to post-harvest decay
Increase of Strawberries Shelf-Life

Picture 6. Percentage of infected fruits from post-harvest decay, after maintaining them at room temperature for a period of 1 to 7 days. — Picture 7. Percentage of infected fruits from post-harvest decay, after maintaining them at room temperature for a period of 1 to 7 days, in control (grey) and Gravital Force SC treatment (green).

Results’ Synopsis – Conclusions

Obtain detailed information on Agrology’s Functional Crop Nutrition® Programs by the specialized staff of Agrology..

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“This experiment was conducted under specific field conditions and should not be applied as a standard without the guidance of an Agronomist or the Agrology Technical Department. In any case, Agrology Functional Crop Nutrition® products and programs must be applied according to the label or the instructions by Agrology’s Agronomic R&D specialists.