Int.J.Curr.Microbiol.App.Sci (2017) 6(9): 1534-1538 1534 Original Research Article https://doi.org/10.20546/ijcmas.2017.609.188 Optimization of NPK Fertilizers for Higher Yield and Quality of Strawberry (Gragaria x Ananassa Duch.) Fruits Jayant Kumar Maurya, Jagendra Pratap Singh, Saurabh Tomar * and Rajeev Kumar Department of Horticulture, Chandra Shekhar Azad University of Agriculture and Technology Kanpur 208002 (U.P.) India *Corresponding author ABSTRACT Introduction The cultivated strawberry (Fragaria x Ananassa Duch.) cultivation in India gained momentum in the late sixties in Himanchal Pradesh and now in Uttarakhand. It is also used to be grown in Srinagar (J. & K.), hills of Darjeeling and in the tropical areas of Gurgaon (Haryana), Meerut, Muzaffarnagar and Saharanpur (U.P.), Jalandhar and Gurdaspur (Punjab), Pune and Mahabaleshwar (Maharashtra) and Bangalore (Karnataka). It is grown for its fruits which at ripe are bright red in colour with a soft melting flesh of sweetish flavor. It is used as fresh fruit being rich in vitamin ‘C’ and minerals, has relatively low content of soluble carbohydrates. Besides, it has a special demand by the food processing units for preparation of jam, ice-cream, syrup and for canning. Propagation of strawberry is done conventionally by runner and, in general distributed as either base rooted plants or plugs. For better plant growth and higher fruit yield, proper nutrition of plants is very important. It responds well to applied fertilizer nutrients. Considering the importance of this fruit, an experiment to International Journal of Current Microbiology and Applied Sciences ISSN: 2319-7706 Volume 6 Number 9 (2017) pp. 1534-1538 Journal homepage: http://www.ijcmas.com A pot experiment on strawberry cv. ‘Chandlar’ conducted in a horticulture garden at Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh during winter season of 2014-15. The treatments consisted 8 levels of NPK fertilizers viz., F 0 - control, F 1 – N 50 P 30 K 30 , F 2 – N 100 P 60 K 60 , F 3 – N 150 P 80 K 80 , F 4 – N 200 P 100 K 100 , F 5 – N 250 P 120 K 120 , F 6 – N 300 P 140 K 140 and F 7 – N 350 P 160 K 160 kg/ha. Cutting produced through runners were transplanted on 21.11.2014 in pots which continued till end of March, 2015. The results revealed that NPK dose of 250 Kg N + 120 Kg P 2 O 5 + 120 Kg K 2 O/ha was proved to be the optimum with highest values of flower/plant (18.66), fruits/plant (13.93), fruit length (4.02cm), fruit diameter (2.92 cm), fruit weight (15.00 gm), fruit yield per plant (208.88 gm) and quality parameter viz., TSS (10.41 %), total sugar (5.93 %) and vitamin ‘C’ (54.20 mg/g) against their lowest values of 7.13 fruits/plant, 2.71 cm fruit length, 2.05 cm fruit diameter, 10g fruit weight, 71.25 g/plant fruit yield, 7.03 % TSS, 4.86 % total sugar and 49.75 mg/g vitamin ‘C’ recorded in the control treatment of no NPK fertilizers. Fruit acidity was estimated lowest of 0.70 % with N 250 P 120 K 120 kg/ha against highest of 0.85 % without NPK application. Thus, N 250 P 120 K 120 kg/ha NPK level was proved optimum for higher yield and quality of strawberry fruits in central Uttar Pradesh condition. Keywords Strawberry, NPK fertilizers, Fruiting, Fruit yield, Fruit quality. Accepted: 19 July 2017 Available Online: 10 September 2017 Article Info