Effect of cultivars and different growing technologies on strawberry yield and fruit quality.

The interest in organic farming and organically pro duced products is increasing every year in Estonia. In 2003 the trial with four widely grown strawberry cultivars: 'Polka', 'Bounty', 'Korona' and 'Senga Sengana' in two variants, the organic and the conventional, was established at the Polli Horticultural Research Cen tre. The objective of this study was to assess the strawberry cultivars in organic and conventiona l growing with regard to their yield and berry quality. No significant differences in commer cial and defective yield per plant between two growing variants were observed in 2004, but the commercial yields were significantly higher in the conventional variant in 2005 and 2006 . It was noted that organically grown strawberries had a higher content of soluble solids , but a lower content of ascorbic acid comparing with conventionally grown strawberries. Due to its good productivity and high content of soluble solids and ascorbic acid, 'Bount y' was the most profitable cultivar in this study, and appeared highly suitable for organic cul tivation.