The leading strawberry producers worldwide are China, the US, Spain and Japan, which produce almost 5 million tons of fruit. Brazil produces around 3,500 tons of strawberries in the states of Minas Gerais, Rio Grande do Sul, Paraná, Santa Catarina, San Paolo, Espírito Santo, Distrito Federal, Bahia and Ceará. Strawberry production has increased a lot over the past decade thanks to the high yields and a transformation in the cultivation process.
Strawberry cultivars show variations in their agronomic performance when they are cultivated in various regions worldwide due to the genotype x environment interaction. Agronomists from the Federal University of Santa Maria (Brazil) assessed the performance of various types of Italian and American cultivars in terms of quality and yield. "We assessed the phyllochron, i.e. the time required for issuing successive leaves on a plant, number as well as commercial and non-commercial yield, titratable acidity and total soluble solid content (°Brix).
11 cultivars were tested - 6 Italian (CREA-FRF PIR 29, CREA-FRF PA3, CREA-FRF CE 51, CREA-FRF CE 56, CREA-FRF Jônica and CREA -FRF Pircinque) and 5 American (Albion, Camarosa, San Andreas, Camino Real and Aromas).
"The American cultivar Albion had the highest phyllochron level while CREA-FRF Pircinque had the lowest. The cultivars with the higher phyllochron value are the less efficient when it comes to yields. Higher volumes are obtained with Camino Real and CREA-FRF Pircinque. Italian cultivars had a higher total soluble solid content. According to the study, the yields and quality of Italian cultivars are higher than those of American cultivars."
Source: Maria I. Diel, Marcos V. Marques Pinheiro, Carine Cocco, Braulio O. Caron, Daniele C. Fontana, Daniela Meira, Leonardo A. Thiesen, Denise Schmidt, 'Yield and Quality Performance of Italian and American Strawberry Genotypes in Brazil', 2018, Journal of Agricultural Science, Vol. 10, No. 2, pag. 139-147.