EFFECT OF PUMICE AMENDMENT ON PHYSICAL SOIL PROPERTIES AND STRAWBERRY PLANT GROWTH

We report the results of a research carried out in Turkey in 2004 to determine the effectiveness of different levels of pumice amendments to soil using strawberry plants. Two grades (2-4 mm and 4-8 mm) of pumice were added to soil and three amendment levels (15%, 30% and 45% by volume) were applied. Finally 6 different growing media types were formulated. The amount of moisture retained at different tensions and distribution of pore size of these growing media were determined. Some plant properties such as the number of leaves, leaf area, fresh and dry root weight, most developed root length and increasing fresh weight of day-notr strawberry plants cv. Fern grown on these media were determined. The best plant growth was observed on media including 4-8 mm pumice grade and 45% pumice amendment ratio with soil.