Response of strawberry to mulching, biofertilizer and calcium spraying and its effect on fruit traits

The experiment was conducted in the agricultural field located in the village of Tunisia / Al-Mahawil District (30 km) north of Babylon province, in a plastic house with an area of 450 m2 and dimensions of 9 x 50 m. to study the effect of the type of coverage, biofertilizer, and calcium spray on the growth and production of the Rubygem cultivar. The experiment was conducted according to the Complete Randomized Blocks Design (CRBD), in a split plot arrangement, with three replicates and with three factors. The first represents mulching type of with three levels, namely (Mulching soil planted with black polyethylene, white polyethylene, and straw. (wheat and barley waste) and is symbolized by the symbol (A1, A2, A3) respectively and were placed in the main plot . As for the sub-plots , the second factor included biofertilizers at four levels that were added to the soil near the plant roots by injection method (the control and Azotobacter bacteria (10 ml. Plant-1) and Mycorrhizas fungi (10 ml. Plant - 1) and a mixture of (Mycorrhizas fungi with Azotobacter bacteria and symbolized by (B0, B3, B2, B1), respectively. The third factor is spraying with calcium at three concentrations (the first is the control treatment and the second is 2.5 (g. L-1) and the third 5 (g. L-1) and symbolized by (C3, C2, C1). The results showed that the black polyethylene mulching treatment was significantly excelled on all traits and both seasons, as follows: number of flowers (30.53, 31.84 flowers . plant-1), average number of opened flowers (29.80, 31.17 flowers . plant-1), average number of set flowers (28.70, 29.99 flowers. Plant-1) Number of fruits (27.65, 28.83 fruits. Plant-1). The results also showed that the biological fertilization treatment (Mycorrhiza + Azotobacter) was significantly excelled on the other treatments and gave the highest values for most of the studied traits, while the triple interaction treatment with black poly Biofertilization (Azotobacter at a concentration of 10 ml. Plant-1 + Mycorrhizae at a concentration of 10 ml. Plant-1) and calcium spraying at a concentration of 5 (g.L-1) and the highest values were recorded for all the studied traits and for both seasons.