ASHS 2025 Conference

With the goal of elucidating the influence of anaerobic soil disinfestation (ASD) on organic strawberry production, plant growth responses of strawberry cultivars to ASD treatments under Florida sandy soil conditions were evaluated in this study across two locations. In both locations (Balm and Citra), a split-plot design with four replications was used in the field trial with the ASD treatment as the whole plot factor and the strawberry cultivar as the subplot factor. The three-week ASD treatments consisted of 13.9 m³/ha molasses combined with Everlizer 3-3-3 (a heat-processed poultry manure organic fertilizer) at either 9.5 (ASD1) or 14.25 Mg/ha (ASD2) in comparison with the no ASD control, while the strawberry cultivars included ‘Ember’, ‘Encore’, ‘Florida Brilliance’, ‘Florida Medallion’, ‘Florida Pearl’, and ‘Florida127’. Destructive sampling was conducted at mid-season and final harvest. Significant effects of ASD treatment and strawberry cultivar were observed for most measured traits, with no significant interaction observed. Across locations and plant stages, ASD treatments significantly enhanced shoot fresh weight and dry weight, crown diameter and number, and leaf number relative to the no ASD control. At Balm, ASD2 increased shoot fresh weight and dry weight by 21% and 9%, respectively, compared with the no ASD control at final harvest. Similar trends were observed at Citra, where ASD2 resulted in higher shoot fresh weight and dry weight by 29% and 31%, respectively, in comparison with the control. In contrast to the no ASD control, both ASD treatments led to greater crown diameters and leaf numbers. At Balm, ‘Florida127’ produced the highest shoot biomass and leaf count, while ‘Florida Brilliance’ maintained the largest crown diameter and high shoot biomass across plant stages. At Citra, ‘Encore’ and ‘Florida Brilliance’ exhibited the highest shoot biomass at final harvest. The relationship between plant growth measurements and fruit yield components will be further examined in the follow-up analysis. Collectively, these results provide a physiological basis for selecting strawberry cultivars for organic systems and understanding genotype by soil treatment interactions toward exploring the linkage between soil health, plant health, and crop productivity.