**2.2. Experimental design**

A complete randomized design with two replicates was used, and the strawberry selection 'SJ8976-1' was grown under three production systems: (1) matted row system (MRS), (2) plastic mulch (PM) and (3) plastic mulch with row covers (PMRC). Twenty-six plants of 'SJ8976-1' were planted in a double row 30 cm × 30 cm apart in 4 m long plots, supplied with drip irrigation down the centre of each row in 2008 at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, L'Acadie Experimental Farm (longitude: 73'35°W; latitude: 45'32°N), in L'Acadie, Quebec, Canada. For the PM and PMRC systems, runners were removed as the runners could not root and grow into a plantlet. But for the MRS, runners were kept and placed to complete the row as recommended by Ministere de l'Agriculture, des Pecheries et de l'Alimentation du Quebec (MAPAQ) [23]. White row cover over the bed was applied under PMRC and taken away until the fruits were formed. The mean temperature from strawberry flowering to harvest was 19.32°C in 2009 and 18.95°C in 2010, respectively. The total precipitation from strawberry flowering to harvest was 241.4 mm in 2009 and 238.7 mm in 2010, respectively.

Optimum matured fruits were harvested from each plot 2–3 times per week from mid-June to mid-July of each year in 2009 and 2010 for a total of 10 harvests per season. The 10 harvests were finally pooled into three groups representing early, mid and late harvest. Total yield and average fruit weight were recorded at every harvest.

Thirty fruits at optimum maturity were harvested from each plot, rapidly put in cooler and then brought to the laboratory, where 15 of them were used to examine the shelf life and fruit quality and the remaining 15 fruits were immediately cut in halves and frozen in liquid nitrogen. Three 40-g subsamples of each treatment were stored at −80°C for chemical composition analysis [24].
