Thermal summation – flower differentiation phenology interpolation curve on Fragaria x Ananassa Duch. cv Elsanta

Thermal summation and phenology are correlated by indexing thermic intervals defined by structural plant growth stages, usually at a macroscopic level. Mobile strawberry orchard technique was used to follow the time-course of the floral differentiation process at a microscopic level, as it allows to combine diverse thermal conditions taking advantage of different climatic environments. During the trial, the temperature was monitored, while transplant date and plant kind were tested in order to determine potential agronomical influences on the differentiation process. The result is an interpolation curve, which associates the thermal summation, expressed in GDH 4.5-28 (Growing Degree Hours), with the morphogenesis of the primary inflorescence first flower of strawberry plants cv. Elsanta. The model allows not only to retrace the flower differentiation process till initiation stage, useful for studying the induction process, but also to calculate the differentiation stage in function of the temperatures without using a destructive technique, such as flower mapping