Impact of plantlet type and mulching materials interaction on strawberry (Fragaria x ananassa) cv. Festival growth, yield and quality in Bangladesh

Plantlet type and mulching materials considerably influence the quantitative and qualitative characteristics of strawberries, but their combined effect remains underexplored in Bangladesh, particularly with the cultivar Festival. An experiment was designed to study the impacts of plantlet type (tissue culture and runner) and mulching materials (no mulch, rice straw, sawdust, black polythene, and red polythene) on strawberry cv’s production and quality traits. Festival using a randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replications. The experimental findings revealed that tissue culture plantlets combined with black polythene mulch produced the highest plant height at the fruiting stage, surpassing the lowest recorded height under runner plantlets without mulch by 80.6%. Similarly, the number of fruits plant-1 increased by 50.4%, single fruit weight by 41.9%, fruit length by 39.3%, and yield plant-1 by 110.7% compared to the least effective combination. For quality traits, this interaction also exhibited the maximum TSS, vitamin C, total phenolic content, and reducing sugars, exceeding the lowest values by 85.1%, 51.5%, 83.8%, and 88.2%, respectively. Results indicated that tissue culture plantlets with black polythene mulch are the most effective approach for strawberry cultivation in Bangladesh and similar agro-climatic regions.