Irrigation Management Scale and Water Application Method to Improve Yield and Water Productivity of Field-Grown Strawberries

Abstract

Improvements in water productivity are of primary importance for maintaining agricultural productivity and sustainability. Water potential-based irrigation management has proven effective for this purpose with many different crops, including strawberries. However, problems related to spatial variability of soil properties and irrigation efficiency were reported when applying this management method to strawberries in soils with rock fragments. In this study, a field-scale experiment was performed to evaluate the impacts of three irrigation management scales and a pulsed water application method on strawberry yield and water productivity. An analytical solution to Richards’ equation was also used to establish critical soil water potentials for this crop and evaluate the effects of the variability in the soil properties. Results showed that spatial variability of soil properties at the experimental site was important but not enough to influence crop response to irrigation practices. The studied properties did not present any spatial structure that could allow establishing specific management zones. A four-fold reduction in the size of the irrigation management zones had no effect on yield and increased the water applications. Pulsed application led to significant yield (22%) and water productivity (36%) increases compared with the standard water application method used by the producer at the experimental site.