Strawberry Variety Trial in Sicily.

The Sicilian strawberry area differs from other Italian strawberry areas for its highearliness with productions that start in November-December. The earliness due tothe very low plant winter chilling requirement is a very important characteristic todefine the variety adaptability to this environment. Through the "Liste varietaliFragola" project funded by MiPAAF, many new varieties and advanced selections areevaluated annually in Sicily. Here, at the moment, the main variety is Florida Fortuna,followed by Candonga ® Sabrosa and Naiad ® CIVL35. Florida Fortuna, released inFlorida, showed to be very interesting especially for its outstanding earliness, a highyield and good fruit quality traits, but it is quite susceptible to biotic and abioticfactors that may affect the survival of plants.The study was carried out in 2011-'12 at the experimental fields located in Marsala(TP). The cultural technique adopted was the typical Sicilian one. The performance of7 new varieties and 4 selections are here described. Three of these selections wereobtained by the Sicilian breeding program - carried out by the S.Ag.ADepartment and coordinated by CRA-FRF.Florida Fortuna confirmed to be the earliest and productive variety. Sabrina, comingfrom Spain, provided the firmest fruits with the highest total soluble solid content,while the Italian Rania produced the biggest fruits. The following selections are atthe final stage of evaluation and they may be released in the near future: PA 260.3showed to be early and to produce firm and sweet medium-small fruits. PA 20, whichprovided the yield as Florida Fortuna, has an early ripening and its fruits are firmwith an high content of total soluble solids. PA 3 and Pir 2 stood out for highfirmness, sweetness and very bright red-orange fruit colour.