Irrigation levels and proline application effects on morphological characteristics of strawberry

B. Kapur, E. Çeliktopuz, M.A. Sarıdaş, F. Aksoy, S.P. Kargı
Strawberry production is a substantial part of the agricultural sector which offers high rates of employment and farm income in the Mediterranean region of Turkey. Optimizing water application and effective cultivation practices are of considerable importance in improving strawberry yield. In this study, the response of strawberry cultivar (Fragaria ananassa Duch. ‘Fortuna’) to four irrigation regimes (IR125, IR100, IR75 and IR50) and proline use were investigated, by evaluating the morphological parameters (leaf area, plant dry matter, crown number) under high tunnel conditions in the Mediterranean environment. Proline, was applied five times starting from December to May via foliar application, as 20 mM. From the initiation of the treatment to the end of the trial, a total of 552, 447, 342 and 237 mm of water were applied to treatments IR125, IR100, IR75 and IR50 respectively. The IR50 treatment caused a significant decline in morphological parameters, indicating that the amount of irrigation water did not meet the plant water requirement. The increased amount of irrigation water increased the leaf area, dry matter and the crown number significantly. Furthermore, the proline application increased the leaf area by 24% and the plant dry matter and crown number by 25%. Under water stress conditions (IR50), proline applications considerably aided the reduced growth rate via increasing leaf area, plant dry matter and the crown number by 20, 58 and 22% respectively, when compared to the control plot. Consequently, in the protected cultivation, the IR125 irrigation level and the proline application enhanced vegetative growth and in turn the total marketable fruit yield and its components.
Kapur, B., Çeliktopuz, E., Sarıdaş, M.A., Aksoy, F. and Kargı, S.P. (2022). Irrigation levels and proline application effects on morphological characteristics of strawberry. Acta Hortic. 1335, 233-238
DOI: 10.17660/ActaHortic.2022.1335.28
https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2022.1335.28
leaf area, dry matter, class A pan, high tunnel
English

Acta Horticulturae