Light intensity inside plastic house influences the growth and nutrient uptake of daughter plants in nursery and early stages after transplanting in strawberry propagation

The effect of varied light intensities on the growth of daughter plants during propagation and after transplant to raised beds were examined in 'Sulhyang' strawberry. To this end, four treatments in controlling solar radiation inside a plastic house were made: 55% retractable shading and 35, 55, and 75% fixed shading. The plastic house was shaded only from 11:00 to 16:00 in June and 10:00 to 16:00 in July to September for the treatment of 55% retractable shading. The mean solar radiation inside the plastic house in the retractable 55% shading treatment was 317 W·m^-2 and those in the 35, 55, and 75% fixed shading treatments were 183, 165, and 116 W·m^-2, respectively, at 10 o'clock in the morning. The 55% and 75% fixed shading resulted in taller daughter plants with wider leaf areas than 55% retractable shading. The retractable shading also showed higher leaf numbers, crown diameters, root weights, and fresh weights compared to fixed shading treatments. Regarding the inorganic element contents, daughter plants grown under 75% fixed shading had 1.35% total nitrogen content followed by 1.19% in 35% fixed shading, 1.14% in 55% fixed shading, 1.14% in open culture, and 1.10% in 55% fixed shading. After 54 days following the transplant of daughter plants to a raised bed, the fresh weight of the aboveground part was the heaviest in the 55% retractable shading and non-shading treatments. The 75% fixed shading treatment had the lowest fresh weight of the aboveground plant parts. The results of this study could be used for the production of high-quality daughter strawberry plants.