PRODUCTIVITY OF EXPERIMENTAL STRAWBERRY CLONES FOR ALFENAS-MG

The strawberry is a perennial plant of temperate climate belonging to the Rosaceae family, much appreciated for presenting a fleshy and succulent receptacle as an edible part. Among small fruits, in Brazil it represents the species of greatest economic expression. The breeding of the strawberry aims to meet the demands of the market, mainly regarding the quality of the fruit required by consumers. Thus, the selection of genotypes that have good quality, productivity and adaptation is extremely important for the development of culture in the country, as well as for making seedlings available at lower prices. The objective of this work was to evaluate the agronomic performance and productivity of experimental strawberry genotypes in the city of Alfenas, Minas Gerais. For this, the experiment was carried out in the premises of the José do Rosário Vellano University (UNIFENAS), Alfenas-MG, in an experimental area of ​​the Olericulture and Experimentation Sector (21025'45''S, 45056'50 "W, 880 m altitude). The experimental design used was completely randomized, with eleven treatments, distributed in seven experimental genotypes, namely MDA01, MDA06, MCA 119, MFA444, MDA19, MDA11 and MDA23, and four commercial cultivars taken as control, being them Pircinque, Albion, Aromas and Festival, in eight repetitions. The following characteristics were evaluated total production per plant (grams of strawberries per plant-1), average weight of fruits per plant (grams/fruit-1), total number of fruits per plant and number of stolons (seedlings) per plant. The experimental genotypes that showed the highest total productivity and average fruit weight were MDA01, MDA23 and MDA19. These materials are presented as promising for the strawberry breeding program in the region and should be reevaluated under other edaphoclimatic conditions and/or used as parents in new crossings for the next stages of the program.