The current study aimed to investigate the impact of water deficit treatment on some vegetative characteristics, quality and biochemical traits of the fruits and leaves of two strawberry cultivars, namely Fragaria x ananassa Duch. 'Paros' and 'Queen Eliza'. The study was conducted over two consecutive years (2019-2020) and across different growing seasons, including spring, summer, and autumn, to gain a comprehensive understanding of the plant's response to water stress. The experiment was carried out in a split-plot design in a completely randomized block layout at the agricultural research station in Graze, Sanandaj city. The study included three levels of irrigation: 0%, 30%, and 65% soil moisture depletion, applied in a hilling planting system with drip irrigation in a soil bed. The results showed that the mild water stress did not have a significant effect on some traits such as dry weight of shoot and root, number of crowns, dry weight of crown, volume of root, surface of leaves, and number of leaves, but it caused a decrease in vegetative growth. With increasing stress intensity, vegetative and reproductive growth of strawberry plant was strongly affected and decreased. The lowest amount of leaf area (322mm2), number of leaves (27.2n), dry weight of shoots (17.7g) and roots (4.38g), as well as the number of fruits (16.1n) and fruit yield (68g) were observed at 65% stress intensity. The content of sugars glucose, fructose and sucrose also decreased with the application of water stress, citric acid did not show any particular changes, and the changes of ascorbic acid and malic acid did not have any particular order. Comparison of the average between two cultivars showed that the amount of yield and the number of fruits decreased significantly. In general, the Queen Eliza variety showed more resistance than the Paros variety under stress conditions and showed the highest amount of shoot dry weight, crown dry weight, root volume and leaf surface. It seems that mild irrigation in strawberry cultivation can be considered as an effective solution for less consumption of irrigation water and acceptable maintenance of vegetative and reproductive performance.
Solamani A, Sarsaifee M, Ghaderi N, Amiri E. Effect of Deficit Irrigation on Some Vegetative Characteristics and Quality Traits of Strawberry Fruits (Fragaria x ananassa Duch.) 'Paros' and 'Queen Eliza'. IJHST 2025; 26 (2) :111-124 URL: http://journal-irshs.ir/article-1-714-en.html