Waddah Muhammad Hamed⁽¹⁾, Nidal Soufan⁽²⁾ and Gheith Muhammad Nassour*⁽³⁾

(1). Ph.D. Student – Department of Orchards – Faculty of Agricultural Engineering – Homs University.

(2). Assistant Professor – Department of Orchards – Faculty of Agricultural Engineering –Homs University.

(3). Researcher – Agricultural Scientific Research Center in Latakia.

(*Corresponding author: Dr. Gheith Muhammad Nassour, E-Mail: gheith.nassour@gmail.com mob.: 0932862661)

Received:   26/9/2024                     Accepted:  23/4/2025

Abstract: 

This research was conducted at the Faculty of Agricultural Engineering in Homs University and in Yahmour, Tartous Governorate during the (2023-2024) season. The study aimed to study the effect of foliar spraying of strawberry mother plants (festival variety) with different concentrations of Cycocel (0, 250, 500, 750 mg/L) and the effect of bud order on the runners to produce high-quality strawberry seedlings. The experiment was designed using a completely randomized block design in a factorial experiment that included two factors: Cycocel concentration and bud order. Each treatment had three replicates with 40 plants per replicate. Cycocel was sprayed three times starting from the second week of June, with a 15-day interval between each spray. Buds of the first and second nodes on the runners were selected at the beginning of July, and the seedlings were collected in mid-September. The results showed that the treating the mother plants with Cycocel improved the studied roots indicators of the resulted seedlings. The concentration of 500 mg/L resulted better root length (1.833 cm), wet weight (1.16 g), and dry weight (0.844 g). The seedlings resulted from the first node showed clear superiority in the number of roots (12.17 roots), root length (1.483 cm), and dry weight (0.623 g) compared to those resulted from the second node. Additionally, the results showed a decrease in the length of the seedling leaves (1.183, 1.000 cm), wet weight (0.411, 0.557 g), and dry weight (0.273, 0.270 g) with the increase of Cycocel concentration to 500 and 750 mg/L, respectively. Regarding the interaction effect, it was found that the seedlings resulted from the first node buds which their mothers sprayed with a concentration of 500 mg/L of Cycocel (treatment C2 N1) gave the best roots number (19.33 roots), roots length (1.967 cm), roots thickness (0.233 cm), and roots dry weight (0.890 g).

Keywords: strawberry, chlormequat chloride, cycocel, buds, strawberry seedlings, festival.
 Full paper in Arabic: PDF