Morphological and Biochemical Characterization of Seven Strawberry (Fragaria × ananassa Duch.) Cultivars Grown in Meghalaya, India

Morphological evaluation as per defined DUS descriptors for seven cultivated varieties of strawberry (Fragaria x ananassa Duch.) viz., Camarosa, Chandler, Festival, Sweet Charlie, Nabila, Sabrina and Winter Dawn were done in the farmer’s field across four locations of Sohliya, Umsning, Umktieh and Pynursla in Meghalaya where strawberry is commercially grown following recommended package of practices. Of the thirty qualitative traits studied, variation was observed for nineteen traits. Wide variation was also observed for the fourteen quantitative traits pertaining to fruit size, number of fruits/ inflorescence and total soluble solids (TSS) among others. Pooled ANOVA for the common varieties Festival and Winter Dawn grown in all the four locations studied revealed that G x E component was highly significant for fruit specific traits indicating differential performance from location to location as a result of genotype x environment interaction.