Evaluation and Selection of Suitable Strawberry Cultivar for Open Field Planting in Kurdistan Provinc in Iran

Eight Strawberry cultivars (Paros، Queen Elisa، Pajaro، Camarosa، Gaviota، Selva، Mrak and Kurdistan as local cultivar) were evaluated to select the best cultivar based on quantitative yield production in Kurdistan province condition. An experiment was performed in a randomized complete block design with three replications during 2008- 2010 in Grizeh research station (Sanandaj). Eleven morphological and phenological charactristics، yield components and fruit yield were measured. Analysis of variance showed a significant difference (P≤0. 01) among cultivars for number of leaves، petiole length، leaf area، runners number، number of inflorescences، flowering period، number of fruits per plant، fruit weight، fruit size and fruit yield per plant. Means comparison showed that Queen Elisa had the highest yield with 771. 5 g/plant while Gaviota had the lowest yield with 60. 42 g/plant. The results also showed a high correlations between yield، inflorescence per plant (r = 0. 785) and fruits number per plant (r = 0. 789). Based on these results، cultivar Queen Elisa having high yield and good compatibility with the local cultivar Kurdistan can be a good alternative cultivar for the region.