Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
treatments were tested on 2 m × 2 m raised bed plots (each plot consisted of 10 beds)
arranged in randomized block design (RBD) with six replications:
T1 = Surface irrigation (SI) + nonmulch;
T2 = SI + paddy straw;
T3 = SI + BP mulch;
T4 = Drip irrigation (DI) + nonmulch;
T5 = DI + paddy straw; and
T6 = DI + BP mulch.
TABLE 1
Effects of irrigation and mulch treatments on fruit and dry matter yield and quality
characteristics of strawberry fruits.
Treatments
Fruit
yield
(q ha
-1
)
Runner
production/
plant
Berry
weight
(g)
Total
Soluble
Solids
(%)
Acidity
(%)
TSS/
Acid
ratio
T1
40.15
11.3
5.6
7.17
0.82
8.79
T2
41.54
07.7
6.8
6.74
0.71
9.28
T3
43.64
7.75
6.3
6.99
0.78
9.01
T4
42.07
16.6
6.1
7.06
0.80
8.78
T5
45.90
11.5
8.4
6.66
0.70
9.50
T6
50.10
12.3
7.0
6.86
0.71
9.37
CD
±
(5%)
56.00
1.2
0.3
0.27
0.08
0.87
One quintal (q) = 100 kg in India.
17.3 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
17.3.1 CROP YIELD
The data on Strawberry fruit (Table 1) indicate that the drip irrigation without mulch
increased the fruit yield by about 21.0 and 9.0% over surface irrigation. The corre-
sponding values with paddy straw mulch were 15 and 10%. Maximum fruit yield was
observed in drip irrigation with black polyethylene (BP) mulch and increase in yield
of 22%, over the surface irrigation plus BP mulch. These results are in accordance
with the findings by Rolbiecki et al. [6] who observed higher Strawberry yield under
drip compared to surface irrigation. Both the mulches were found to be effective in
increasing the yield over un-mulch treatment. Surface irrigation with paddy straw and
BP increased the yield by about 18 and 37% respectively, over the un-mulch plots
(Table 1). The higher yields observed under different mulches may be explained in the
light of results reported by Raina [5]. They observed that the paddy straw and poly-
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