Strawberry production in hydroponic systems under greenhouse conditions

Protected agriculture is a technology that allows to reduce the pressure on natural resources, mainly in soil and water. Mexico is the third producer of strawberry with 3% of the world volume. The traditional cultivation of strawberries in the soil does not provide the best conditions to develop their potential, so it is possible to increase their yield up to 75% with the use of technology, such as protected agriculture and hydroponic systems. Considering the above, the objective of the study was to evaluate the following factors in the pyramidal and vertical hydroponic systems: (a) two strawberry varieties, Festival and San Andreas, (b) two and three plant densities and (c) three and four elevations, respectively. The distribution of the treatments was completed randomly with three repetitions in the pyramidal system and six repetitions in the vertical. The statistical analysis was performed using a general linear model and a regression procedure. In the pyramid system, the factors are varied and there are no differences between the levels tested. The elevation factor showed significant differences, concluding that the highest height has greater number of leaves (10.5 leaves·plant^-1), diameter of the crown (2.7 cm), fruit diameter (1.84 cm), number of fruits (6 fruits·planta^-1), percentage of soluble solids (7%) and yield (547.6 g·plant^-1) than the three lower elevations. In the vertical system, the variety of differences between treatments, the Festival had better vegetative behavior. The production in the pyramidal system was 23.5 kg m^-2 and in the vertical system of 16 kg m^-2.