Effect of Proline and Glycine Betaine Applications on Fruit Yield and Quality of Strawberry under Deficit Irrigation Stress Conditions

The study was carried out for 2 months in greenhouse conditions in order to determine the effects of full (IR100) and deficit (IR60) irrigation levels and and proline and glycine betaine applications on some fruit yield and quality chractarictics of Albion strawberry cultivar. In the experiment, as the irrigation level decreased, both the fruit number and the yield per plant decreased significantly. This decrease was determined as approximately 20% in fruit number and 34% in yield. Despite under deficit irrigation stress conditions, 20 mM proline application produced higher fruit number and yield than the control group at full irrigation. The proline preparation applications increased the fruit number and yield by approximately 24% and 56%, respectively. While the rate of non-marketable fruit quality tended to increase with decreasing irrigation levels, this suggests that the plant produces poor-quality fruit under deficit irrigation stress conditions. 10 mM proline application prevented the increase in the ratio of non- marketable fruit quality. In this study, the effects of different irrigation levels and preparation applications on fruit quality traits in the Albion strawberry cultivar varied. The interaction of irrigation levels and preparation applications had a statistically significant effect on fruit weight, chroma and hue values of external color, and total soluble solids content, while the effect on other fruit quality parameters was statistically insignificant. The applications were successful in keeping the fruit quality characteristics high compared to the control group under deficit irrigation stress conditions. However, this success varied according to the preparation type and application dose. As a result, it was determined that foliar proline and glycine betaine applications could increase the resistance of the plant to water stress. On the other hand, it was observed that the high doses used and proline application were more effective than glycine betaine in the positive results obtained.