Water Management for Strawberry in California: Yield and Water Savings with Deficit Irrigation Strategies.

Worldwide, water is a precious resource that is becoming increasingly scarce as the population grows and water resources are depleted in some locations. It obviously affects strawberry production and water cuts are being imposed to many strawberry growers to save water, with limited information on the impact on crop yield. Studies were conducted at 2 different locations, testing different deficit irrigation strategies. Soil texture varied from clay to sandy loam. The most appropriate set points for initiating irrigation was found to be around -10 kPa in both mineral soils and resulted in maximum yield relative to grower management. Deficit irrigation initiating irrigation at about -35 kPa resulted in water savings up to 16% and caused yield drops between1% to 9% in a sandy loam. This has a very important economic impact for growers and therefore the potential for imposing water cuts should be paired with an evaluation of the crop response to deficit irrigation on the soil type considered.