Bishal Shrestha¹ , Kalyani Mishra Tripathi¹ , Arjun Kumar Shrestha¹ , Rajendra Gautam²

1 Agriculture and Forestry University, Rampur, Chitwan, 44209, Nepal
2 Samriddhi Agriculture Research and Development Pvt. Ltd., Lalitpur, 44700, Nepal
Author    Correspondence author
International Journal of Horticulture, 2025, Vol. 15, No. 1   doi: 10.5376/ijh.2025.15.0003
Received: 06 Nov., 2024    Accepted: 18 Jan., 2025    Published: 06 Feb., 2025

This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Shrestha B., Tripathi K.M., Shrestha A.K., and Gautam R., 2025, Evaluation of growth and yield characteristics of strawberry (Fragraria ananassa) varieties in low chilling condition of Chitwan, Nepal, International Journal of Horticulture, 15(1): 21-28 (doi: 10.5376/ijh.2025.15.0003)

Strawberry is a fruit crop of significant economic and nutritional value. Despite its importance, there is limited research on the adaptability and performance of low-chilling strawberry varieties in subtropical climates. This study aimed to evaluate the growth and yield performance of eight strawberry varieties under low-chilling conditions in Chitwan, Nepal. Different varieties used in the study were ‘Florida Beauty, Ruby Gem, Sweet Sensation, Elyana, Florida Festival, Winter Dawn, Winter Star, and Nyho. The experiment was organized using an RCBD design with a single factor and four replications. Statistical analysis revealed that the Florida Festival exhibited the maximum plant height at all growth stages. In contrast, Nyho exhibited the minimum, reaching heights of 44.95 cm and 13.45 cm, respectively, at the final growth stage. Similarly, regarding the number of trifoliate leaves, the highest count was observed on Sweet Sensation (43.53) and the lowest in Nyho (18.73) during the total growth period. Winter Dawn had the highest number of flowers per plant (36.38) whereas Nyho had the lowest (13.33). The maximum number of fruits per plant was observed in Winter Dawn (25.98) and the minimum was observed in Nyho (8.56). Ruby Gem had the highest fruit set % (83.98) and Nyho had the lowest (64.45). In terms of yield per plant, Winter Dawn recorded the highest (713.23 gm) and the lowest was in Nyho (123.27 gm). Winter Dawn is recommended for commercial cultivation in subtropical regions of Nepal because of its better yield performance, providing a milestone for improving strawberry productivity under low-chilling conditions.

Strawberry (Fragraria ananassa); Low chilling varieties; Fruit set; Trifoliate leaves; Yield