Abstract:

The study investigated the effects of different irrigation levels on certain fruit and plant quality parameters in strawberries. As plant materials, important commercial strawberry cultivars such as ‘Rubygem’, 'Sabrina' and 'Festival' alongside selected superior genotypes ('33', '36', '59', '61' and '112') and found to be quite satisfactory in terms of parameters such as taste, aroma and yield were used. Full (IR100) and limited irrigation (IR50) were applied to plants grown under Spanish type high tunnel. Fruit flesh firmness, total soluble solid content, external fruit color values, titratable acidity, pH, stem number, and width were examined as quality parameters throughout the effective harvesting period (March, April, May). The results revealed that fruit flesh firmness ranged from 0.48 lb inch-2 to 2.41 lb inch-2, soluble solid content varied between %5.2 and %12.0, titratable acidity ranged from %0.56 to %1.64, stem number ranged from 3.5 per plant to 11.5 per plant, and stem width showed a distribution between 38.3 mm and 83.7 mm, depending on irrigation level, genotype, and fruit harvesting time. As a conclusion, it was evident that the fruit flesh firmness of the selected genotypes needs improvement, and limited irrigation could partially achieve this. The genotype coded '33' exhibited the highest fruit color saturation, while the sweetest fruits were produced by genotype '36'. Therefore, proper selection of genotypes, as well as cultural practices such as harvesting time and irrigation, play a crucial role in determining fruit quality in strawberry cultivation.