PARTIAL ROOTZONE DRYING INCREASES ANTIOXIDANT ACTIVITY IN STRAWBERRIES

Fruit are an important dietary source of antioxidants, which have been linked to beneficial health effects.
Strawberry (Fragaria × ananassa) accounts for over 60% of the value of UK soft fruit production, and all commercial crops are irrigated.
However, water use efficiency must be improved to comply with new UK legislation introduced to safeguard limited resources and ease environmental concerns.
Two irrigation management techniques, reduced deficit irrigation (RDI) and partial rootzone drying (PRD), were evaluated for their effects on strawberry yields and fruit quality.
The potential to use these regimes to manipulate fruit concentrations of two key antioxidants, ascorbic acid (AsA) and ellagic acid (EA), was investigated.
RDI and PRD delivered water savings of 30% without compromising strawberry yields or fruit quality.
Fruit concentrations across all treatments ranged from 677–1274 μg g^-1 frozen weight for AsA, and 57–238 μg g^-1 frozen weight for EA. Furthermore, PRD irrigation regimes increased concentrations of AsA and of EA by 55% and 270%, respectively.
Our long-term aim is to manipulate concentrations of key bioactive compounds in fruit, using cultural practices which promote sustainable horticultural production.

I International Symposium on Human Health Effects of Fruits and Vegetables

P.A.A. Dodds, J.M. Taylor, M.A. Else, C.J. Atkinson, W.J. Davies

ascorbic acid, ellagic acid, RDI, yield, water

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2007.744.30