Physiological and yield tradeoffs among ten strawberry (Fragaria × ananassa Duch.) cultivars under reduced irrigation frequency

Abstract

Climate change driven increases in evaporative demand and water scarcity pose significant challenges to irrigated crops, making plant water conservation a critical trait for agricultural sustainability. Fragaria ×  ananassa (strawberry) is an economically important but drought-sensitive crop due to its shallow root system and high transpiration demand. This study evaluated cultivar-specific physiological and anatomical tradeoffs underlying tolerance in irrigation reduction across ten commercial strawberry cultivars grown under well-watered conditions and under reduced irrigation frequency. We quantified traits such as leaf water potential ( Ѱ leaf ), stomatal conductance ( g s ), and leaf mass per area (LMA), anatomy (phloem fraction, defined as the relative cross-sectional allocation to phloem tissue, stomatal density, and vessel diameter), and fruit quality (marketable grams per berry and fruit soluble solids (°Brix)). Across all ten cultivars, the reduced irrigation frequency treatment generally increased LMA and fruit soluble solids (°Brix) while reducing Ѱ leaf , g s , and fruit size, revealing trade-offs between water conservation and yield. In the anatomical analysis in a subset of five of the cultivars, we observed that treatment reduced stomatal density, while two cultivars had a reduction in phloem fraction and vessel diameter. These findings highlight a set of traits that contribute to improved water-use efficiency while elucidating the yield penalties associated with tolerance to irrigation reductions, and thus offer valuable insights for cultivar selection and breeding under water-limited conditions.