Figures (5)  Tables (3)
    • Figure 1. 

      Tool used for pollination.

    • Figure 2. 

      Robot pollination.

    • Figure 3. 

      Fertilized and unfertilized achenes of a sample strawberry. Fertilized achenes are turning red and the fleshy surrounding skin can be observed. Unfertilized achenes are green and the surrounding skin is not enlarged.

    • Figure 4. 

      Grade classification of strawberry fruits.

    • Figure 5. 

      Development of strawberry fruits.

    • Number of flowers/fruits***Total weight of fruits (g)
      HandRobotHandRobot
      Fruited flowers**
      Grade 333(66)(72)27(54)(59)333(75)271(62)
      Grade 26(12)(13)11(22)(24)60(14)128(29)
      Grade 17(14)(15)8(16)(17)52(12)37(8)
      Sub-total46(92)(100)46(92)(100)446(100)436(100)
      Sterile flowers4(8)4(8)
      Total50(100)50(100)
      * Numbers in parenthesis are percentages. ** For the definition of the grade, see Fig. 4. *** The chi-square test of the distribution of fruited flowers indicates that the null hypothesis that differences in pollination methods are independent of the distribution over the grades is not rejected at p = 0.05 (χ2 = 2.14, D.F. = 2, p = 0.34).

      Table 1. 

      The results of pollination: distributions of sampled flowers by pollination method.*

    • FactorVariation ratio
      Grade of fruitsPollination methodInteraction effectResidual/Total***
      Significance provability**
      Fruit weight (g/fruit))8.2E-040.6460.2600.811
      Fruit volume (cm3/fruit)0.0010.5960.3160.945
      Brix (%)0.0810.4830.7630.934
      Number of achenes (no./fruit)0.4910.9960.7020.971
      Percentage of fertilized achenes (%)1.3E-130.0270.4310.469
      * The degree of freedom is 2 for the grade, 1 for the pollination method, 2 for the interaction effect, 86 for the residual, and 91 for the total variation.
      ** For p < 0.001, probabilities are expressed in an index form, such as 8.2E-04, which stands for 8.2 × 104. The probability of less than the critical level of p = 0.05 is expressed in bold letters.
      *** The variation ratio, residual/total, means the share in the total variation of the variation that is not explained by the factors.

      Table 2. 

      The results of ANOVA: the significance probability of fruit grade, pollination method, and their interaction effect, and the ratio of the residual variation to the total variation, for the five fruit characteristics.*

    • HandRobot1/2
      Mean 1CV (%)Mean 2CV (%)
      Fruit weight (g/fruit)
      Grade 310.1a38.910.0a31.71.01
      Grade 210.0ab37.011.6a42.50.86
      Grade 17.50ab61.94.60b62.81.63
      Fruit volume (cm3/fruit)
      Grade 36.84a46.86.58a33.91.04
      Grade 26.84ab39.97.98a48.90.86
      Grade 14.84ac64.22.77bc68.61.75
      Brix (%)
      Grade 39.36a12.79.35a13.21.00
      Grade 29.38a10.69.55a8.70.98
      Grade 19.87a8.910.3a11.50.95
      Number of achenes (no./fruit)
      Grade 3144a32.3133a25.31.08
      Grade 2131a38.8140a40.20.94
      Grade 1122a55.9125a28.30.98
      Percentage of fertilized achenes (%)
      Grade 381.5a17.678.2a19.61.04
      Grade 260.3ab45.747.0bc36.11.28
      Grade 143.9bc55.430.5c67.91.44
      * Of the six means for each characteristic, the means followed by the same alphabet letter are not statistically different at p < 0.05 (tested by the Tukey method).

      Table 3. 

      The means and coefficient of variations (CV) of the weight, volume, and brix of strawberry fruits, the total number of achenes per fruit, and percentage share of fertilized achenes in the total achenes, by pollination method and grade.*