Foliar Application of Ethinyl Estradiol and Progesterone Affects Morphological and Fruit Quality Characteristics of Strawberry cv. Camarosa

Abstract

There is no reliable information about the effects of mammalian sex hormones (MSHs) on fruit production and storability. Therefore, this study was carried out to evaluate the effect of foliar application of MSHs ethinyl estradiol (EE) and progesterone (Prog) at 0.001 and 1.0 ppm concentrations during the growing season on morphological and fruit physicochemical characteristics in strawberry (Fragaria x ananassa) cv. Camarosa fruit at harvest, as well as during 4 weeks of cold storage. Plants treated with EE and Prog showed better morphological characteristics. Moreover, these plants produced bigger and heavier fruit with higher total soluble solids (TSS), chlorophylls, vitamin C content, and peroxidase (POD), superoxide dismutase (SOD), and glutathione reductase (GR) activities at harvest, and lower titratable acidity (TA) content and catalase (CAT) activity. On the other hand, the length/width ratio of first fruit, pH, and anthocyanin content was not significantly affected by EE and Prog application. Cold storage significantly enhanced pH, TSS, TA, vitamin C content, and SOD and CAT activities, whereas POD activity significantly decreased during 4 weeks of cold storage. Overall, the foliar application of EE and Prog, especially at 1.0 ppm, would be a highly recommended practice in the production of strawberry cv. Camarosa fruit.