~ 531 ~ The Pharma Innovation Journal 2019; 8(4): 531-533 ISSN (E): 2277- 7695 ISSN (P): 2349-8242 NAAS Rating: 5.03 TPI 2019; 8(4): 531-533 © 2019 TPI www.thepharmajournal.com Received: 14-02-2019 Accepted: 18-03-2019 Sangeeta Chandrakar Department of Fruit Science, College of Agriculture, Indira Gandhi Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Krishak Nagar, Raipur, Chhattisgarh, India Prabhakar Singh Department of Fruit Science, College of Agriculture, Indira Gandhi Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Krishak Nagar, Raipur, Chhattisgarh, India Hemant Kumar Panigrahi Department of Fruit Science, College of Agriculture, Indira Gandhi Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Krishak Nagar, Raipur, Chhattisgarh, India Ankit Kumar Pandey Department of Fruit Science, College of Agriculture, Indira Gandhi Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Krishak Nagar, Raipur, Chhattisgarh, India Correspondence Sangeeta Chandrakar Department of Fruit Science, College of Agriculture, Indira Gandhi Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Krishak Nagar, Raipur, Chhattisgarh, India Response of foliar application of micro-nutrients on number of flowers, fruits and yield per plant of strawberry (Fragaria x ananassa Duch.) cv. Nabila under net tunnel condition Sangeeta Chandrakar, Prabhakar Singh, Hemant Kumar Panigrahi and Ankit Kumar Pandey Abstract An experiment was conducted to study the response of foliar spray of micro-nutrients on number of flowers, fruits and yield per plant of strawberry cv. Nabila under net tunnel with different concentration of micro-nutrient spray as treatments and replicated thrice in a Randomized Completely Block Design. The treatment consisted ten different concentrations of calcium and micro-nutrients along with recommended dose of fertilizers viz. T0: RDF + control (Water spray), T1: RDF + CaCl2 @ 0.4%, T2: RDF + CaCl2 @ 0.6%, T3: RDF + CaCl2 @ 0.8%, T4: RDF + ZnSO4 @ 0.4%, T5: RDF + ZnSO4 @ 0.6%, T6: RDF + ZnSO4 @ 0.8%, T7: RDF + FeSO4 @ 0.4%, T8: RDF + FeSO4 @ 0.6% and T9: RDF + FeSO4 @ 0.8%. The data revealed that the maximum number of flowers per plant and maximum number of fruits per plant were recorded under the treatment T5 (RDF + ZnSO4 @ 0.6%) whereas the minimum was recorded under the treatment T0 (RDF + water spray). As regard the yield, highest yield (1.17 kg/plant) was obtained under the treatment RDF + ZnSO4 @ 0.6% followed by treatment RDF + FeSO4 @ 0.6% and minimum yield was found under control (T0). Keywords: strawberry, Nabila, foliar application, micro-nutrients, number of flowers, number of fruits Introduction Strawberry (Fragaria x ananassa Duch.) is one of the most important temperate fruit, belongs to the family Rosaceae but it can also be grown in tropical and sub-tropical climate. Strawberry plant shows maximum growth and development at an optimum day temperature of 22 to 23 0 C and night temperature 7 to 13 0 C. Frost as well as winter injury are very harmful to the plant and seriously reduces yield of berries. Sandy loam soil with a pH range of 5.5 to 6.5 is suitable for better plant growth and development. Nutritionally, strawberry contains low calorie carbohydrate and a potential source of vitamin C and fibers. It contains more vitamin C than oranges. The chemical composition of strawberry is ascorbic acid (64.0mg), water (91.75g), protein (0.61g), fat (0.37g), carbohydrate (7.02g), fiber (2.3g), calcium (14.0mg), potassium (166.0 mg/160g) and vitamin-A (27 IU). In India the total area of strawberry is 1000 ha with production of 5000 MT (Anonymous, 2016) [1] . In India, Maharashtra is the leading State in production of strawberry fruits. It is also commercially grown in Haryana, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Uttarakhand and lower hills of Himachal Pradesh. The nutrition status of strawberry plant plays a vital role in determining the yield and yield attributing parameters since it is a very sensitive plant to nutritional balance (Mohamed et al., 2011) [6] . An optimal fertilization is contributive in obtaining high yield of good quality and high biological value. Both calcium and micro-nutrients are well known to ameliorate yield and yield attributing parameters. Methods and Materials The field experiment was carried out during the year 2017-18 at Research Farm of Centre of Excellence on Protected Cultivation and Precision farming under net tunnel, College of Agriculture, IGKV, Raipur (C.G.). It is situated between 22 o 33' N to 21 o 14'N Latitude and 82 o 6' to 81 o 38'E Longitude. The average elevation of the place is 307 meters above the mean sea level. The soil of experimental field was clay-loam having pH 7.7.