Horticultural Science and Technology 원예과학기술지 ISSN:1226-8763(Print) 2465-8588(Online)

This research was conducted to investigate the influence of different kinds of acids added to irrigation water containing high levels of bicarbonate on the growth and daughter plant production during the propagation of ‘Seolhyang’ strawberry. Fertigation solution was prepared with equal concentrations of essential nutrients as found in Hoagland solution, plus 240 mg·L^-1 HCO₃^-. The concentrations of HCO₃^- in the treatment solution were decreased to 60 mg·L^-1 by the addition of HNO₃, H₃PO₄, H₂SO₄, HNO₃ + H₃PO₄, or salicylic acid. The mother plants transplanted to raised beds were treated with a specific treatment solution for 126 days and growth and daughter plant productions were monitored. The fresh weight of mother plants in the -control treatment (240 mg∙L^-1 HCO₃^-) was significantly lower than those in acid containing treatments. The number of daughter plants produced per mother plant was 13 in the -control treatment, but 19.4, 20.1, 18.6, 22.4, and 18.9 in the treatments of HNO₃, H₃PO₄, H₂SO₄, HNO₃ + H₃PO₄ and salicylic acid, respectively. The substrate pHs after 126 days of treatment were 8.2 and 7.3 in the -control and salicylic acid treatments, respectively, but 5.5, 5.4, 5.3, and 5.5 in the treatments of HNO₃, H₃PO₄, H₂SO₄, and HNO₃ + H₃PO₄ treatments, respectively. The tissue Ca and Mg contents of mother plants were significantly higher in +control (90 mg∙L^-1 HCO₃^-) and various acid blending treatments compared to the –control treatment. By contrast, Ca and Mg contents were not significantly different among treatments with acids. The Fe, Mn, Zn, and Cu contents in plant tissue of –control were also significantly lower than those in all other treatments.