Evaluation of the productivity of garden strawberries (Fragaria ananassa) of English breeding in the lowland part of the Guba district

Abstract. Strawberry is an excellent dietary product. It is grown everywhere in Azerbaijan, while among the varieties grown here there are no local varieties, they are all imported. Some of the varieties have come here recently, so there is a problem of choosing the most adapted ones to the conditions of a particular area. The objects of this study were four imported varieties of strawberries of the English garden breeding Cupid, Fenella, Christine and Flamenco, planted in 2020 in the lowland part of the Guba district at an altitude of 400 m above sea level. The site was divided into paired rows repeated every 80 cm, and in each such pair the distance between the rows was 30 cm. The distance between the plants in each row was 15 cm. Mulching and drip irrigation were used as the main elements of the technology. Full fruiting occurred in June 2022, when the study of the main criterion of productivity (the total yield divided by the load of the bush) was carried out. It showed that this indicator is the highest in the Fenella variety (0,81 kg per bush or 40,2 tons per hectare). Fenella strawberries stood out among the other studied varieties both by their large size and the largest weight of berries (height is 4,07±0,42 cm, maximum transverse diameter is 3,61±0,55 cm, weight is 20,96±6,21 g), as well as by their total sugar content (7,47 g/100 g of raw weight), while Cupid variety was distinguished by the highest content of ascorbic acid (68,6±0,75 mg/100 g) and total polyphenols (115,0±1,26 mg/100 g). Keywords: Azerbaijan, Guba district, garden strawberries, varieties of late introduction, productivity components, chemical composition