Effect of Regulated Deficit Irrigation (RDI) and Partial Root zone Drying (PRD) on Quantitative and Qualitative Traits of Strawberry

Deficit irrigation (DI) is a suitable solution to gain acceptable and economic performance by using minimum amount of water. The partial root zone drying (PRD) method introduced in Australia for the first time and its goal was controlling the vine’s excessive growth. This goal gained by alternative drying the rootzone. Basically the theory of PRD method, is expanding the plant’s roots by applying alternative stress on different sides of the roots. So the plants with PRD irrigation method can have different root system in comparison with other irrigation methods. At this method the plant’s condition would be OK by uptaking water from wet side, and the roots at the dry side can release abscisic acid hormone which decrease the stomatal conductance and consequently the water use efficiency would be increase.There had been studies on the effect of water tension on strawberry. The previous studies on strawberry indicated that the water stress can increase the plant’s brix concentration and some of plant acids.The awareness of the impact of water deficit stress on strawberry plant quantity and quality is essential for irrigation and product management, and at the current study, effect of different deficit irrigation methods on quantitative and qualitative traits of strawberry have been evaluated. The focus at the current study was on the qualitative traits. The present study was conducted in one of strawberry farms of Babolsar city in 2012 to evaluate the effects of deficit irrigation and partial root zone drying on quantitative and qualitative traits of strawberry plants. Three Irrigation treatments were studied: Full Irrigation (FI), Regulated Deficit Irrigation (RDI75%) at 75% level of plants water requirementand Partial Root zone Drying (PRD75%) at 75% level of plants water requirement. The study was conducted in a randomized complete block design with three replications. Irrigation was continued until the soil moisture reached to field capacity. The field capacity point’s moisture was measured by using pressure plate equipment. By having the soil moisture curve and measuring the soil suction with tensiometer, the soil moisture situation determined. According to the point that the strawberry’s root is about 25 centimeters (cm), the tensiometers were installed at 2 depths next to the plant. The 1st depth was 8 cm and the 2nd one was 23 cm. The distance between tensiometers and the plant were 4 cm. 2 stochastic replication at the field were considered for the tensiometers positions. In order to deliver precise amount of water to irrigation treatments, the volume counters had been used. The water was applying by using drip tapes. The flow from the emitters on the drip tapes was 2.9 liters per hour. The harvest time was from May 5th to June 20th. To measure the performance, each shrub’s strawberries were weighted separately.Depth of irrigation water during the whole irrigation season for full and deficit irrigation treatments were 341 and 256 mm, respectively. Evaluating the effect of treatments was conducted by measuring the quantitative and qualitative traits of fruits at harvesting time.For analyzing the data, the SAS software and to plot the graphs, the Excel software were used. The SNK test (5% level) was used to comprise the treatments’ traits. Quantitative traits consisted of fresh weight, dry weight, leaf area, leaf area index and yield in FI was higher significantly than deficit irrigation treatments. In comparison with the qualitative traits consisted of titratable acid, acidity and flavor of the fruit there was no significant difference between treatments. The leaf area index (LAI) at RDI and PRD were lower than the FI. Its reason could be the growth’ reducing as a result of abscisic acid (ABA) hormone’s release in the roots which can control the growth. The amount of total sugar (brix) and anthocyanin in RDI were significantly higher than the other two treatments. The comparison between irrigation treatments indicated that the best quantitative results were at FI treatment. By considering the quantitative and qualitative traits, PRD had the nearest results to FI. At the water stress conditions, applying PRD method at 75% level would be a good management technic to have better performance and increasing the fruit quality. In Mazandaran Province condition, using this method would be a good way to minimize the quantitative losses and increasing the quality of fruits at stress condition.