Effects of different irrigation methods and mulching on yield, growth and water use efficiency of strawberry

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Accordingly, a greenhouse experiment was conducted from 2015-16 to 2017-18 on a Aeric Haplaquept to evaluate the effect of irrigation (surface irrigation at furrows at irrigation water : cumulative pan evaporation = 1, drip irrigation to meet 100, 80 and 60% of actual crop evapotranspiration demand ), and mulch (nonwoven jute agro textile, biodegradable plastic film, rice straw, and no mulch) regimes on strawberry. Average soil water storage in root zone (86mm) and fraction of potential plant available water (61%) was highest in jute agrotextile mulched and drip irrigated at 80% actual evapotranspiration. This combination of mulch and irrigation regime increased belowground (root length density, 7.15×10 3 m m -3 ) and above ground (leaf area index, 9.4) crop growth and emerged as the best option with three- and four-times higher yield (31.1 Mg ha -1 ) and water use efficiency (23.1 kg m -3 ), respectively than surface irrigated unmulched strawberry. Results suggest that these findings be incorporated into packages and practices of strawberry cultivation in the moist tropical sub-humid region of Bengal basin and other similar agroecological regions of South Asia. Drip irrigation jute agro textile mulch evapotranspiration yield water use efficiency Leaf area index Figures Figure 1 Figure 2 Figure 3 Figure 4 Figure 5 1. Introduction Strawberry (Fragaria × ananassa Duch.) requires only one-sixth of irrigation-water but generates 3.5 times more net return over the winter rice, and can be grown as an alternate crop in place of in non-traditional winter rice growing areas of arsenic contaminated Bengal basin benefiting millions of people by reducing As load in food chains (Biswas et al. 2021 ). But, strawberry can neither withstand excess water nor drought stress (Klamkowski and Treder, 2006 ). Optimum water supply in the root zone may play a key role in improving its productivity. Soil matric potential-based irrigation thresholds of − 10 kPa appears to be adequate for strawberry on most types of soils and under temperate and warm climatic conditions in optimizing yield and water use efficiency and in reducing the environmental impacts associated with water and nutrients losses by runoff and leaching (Létourneau et al. 2015a ). Irrigation through drip deliver water directly to the root system of crops, which then slowly and evenly penetrates into the root zone soil, allowing the root system to fully absorb soil water (Wang et al. 2021 ). Among the several water management options, mulching also seems to be an important one as it conserves soil water, moderates soil temperature, reduces weed and insect pest infestation, and improves yield and nutrient use efficiency in strawberry (Shiukhy et al., 2015 ). In an field experiment, irrigation applied through drip system and use of black polythene mulch significantly enhanced root growth and facilitate higher nutrient uptake and promoted plant growth and development resulting in significantly higher yield and water use efficiency of strawberry under sub-temperate climatic conditions at Nauni, Himachal Pradesh, India on loamy sand Inceptisols (Kumar and Dey 2011 ). With 25% deficit irrigation levels, higher fruit yields and water use efficiency in strawberry production achieved with surface drip covered with black polythene mulch than sub surface drip irrigation in cooler climate in high altitude at Turkey (Tunc et al. 2019 ). However, non-biodegradable plastic mulches have direct and indirect adverse consequences for long-term soil quality and ecosystem services (Steinmetz et al., 2016). Microplastic absorption and contamination in food chain is also matter of growing concern (Bellasi et al. 2020 ). In a field experiment in arsenic contaminated Bengal basin, jute agrotextile mulch was recommended as the environmentally friendly cultivation option in strawberry (Biswas et al., 2021 ). The development of greenhouse culture for high-value crops has been expanding in the Asian region (Yuan et al. 2004 ). However, there are few studies on how irrigation regimes and different mulches influence soil water distribution in the root zone and affect plant growth and then determine the water use efficiency and crop yield under protected condition. We proposed that mulched drip irrigation improve the soil water distribution, promotes the root and shoot growth and thus enhances the absorption of soil water for higher yield and water productivity. To confirm our hypothesis, we carried out a comparative experiment to evaluate the effect of irrigation and mulch regimes on: i) root and shoot growth of strawberry, ii) soil water dynamics and soil water balance in the root zone, and iii) evapotranspiration, crop productivity, and water use efficiency of strawberry grown under protected condition in a sub-humid climate in Bengal basin. 2. Materials And Methods 2.1. Experimental site Greenhouse trials were carried out during the winter season (November -March) of 2015–2016, 2016–2017, and 2017–2018 at the Central Research Farm of the Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Gayeshpur, India, located at 23 o 5.4' N, 83 o 5.4' E and 10.5m amsl. The study site represents the tropical and moist subhumid region in arsenic contaminated Bengal basin, with 1600 mm average annual rainfall. Long-term mean temperature at the study site ranges from 15.5 to 21.3 0 C in the coldest month of January and from 27.6 to 31.7 0 C in the hottest month of May, respectively. Pan evaporation (E pan ) during the cropping period in three experimental seasons have been recorded daily at 8.30am from a USWB class A stainless steel circular pan (diameter 121cm and height 25.5cm) kept on wooden platform in the greenhouse (Table 1 ). Table 1 Weekly pan evaporation (E pan ) during the cropping period in three experimental years. Standard meteorological week Date Cropping year 2015-16 2016-17 2017-18 44 29Oct-4Nov 11.0 9.0 10.6 45 5-11Nov 14.3 11.4 14.3 46 12-18Nov 11.2 8.7 9.4 47 19-25Nov 11.3 6.4 10.8 48 26-2Dec 8.7 8.7 8.6 49 3-9Dec 7.5 8.0 7.3 50 10-16Dec 8.3 6.8 6.9 51 17-23Dec 6.4 5.8 6.7 52 24-31Dec 8.6 6.4 8.3 01 1–7 Jan 5.2 7.1 7.5 02 8–14 Jan 7.6 8.6 6.7 03 15-21Jan 6.7 8.7 7.4 04 22-28Jan 8.3 8.9 10.6 05 29-4Feb 10.4 9.6 11.1 06 5-11Feb 10.1 12.9 12.6 07 12-18Feb 10.5 12.3 15.3 08 19-25Feb 19.3 17.9 16.2 09 26-4Mar 15.6 23.3 20.2 10 5-11Mar 17.0 15.3 27.1 11 12-18Mar 23.0 25.3 23.8 12 19-25Mar 24.0 24.5 23.2 13 26-1Apr 25.2 29.2 25.5 Pan coefficient (K p ) value for the study site was considered as 0.85 The soil of the experimental site is classified as sandy loam, Aeric Haplaquept . Important soil hydro-physical properties of different horizons are presented in Table 2 . The basic chemical properties of the surface (0–15 cm) soil were as: pH 6.36, organic carbon 5.2 g kg − 1 , available N, P 2 O 5, and K 2 O as 89, 13.3, and 65 kg ha − 1 , respectively. Table 2 Hydro-physical characteristics of the experimental soil. 2.2. Experimental treatments Experiments with sole strawberry were conducted with four irrigation regimes: (i) Surface irrigation (SI) with IW/CPE (ratio of the amount of irrigation water applied to cumulative pan evaporation) at 1.0 with 25 mm IW at each irrigation; (ii) Drip irrigation to compensate for 100% loss of actual evapotranspiration (1.0ETc); (iii) Drip irrigation to compensate 80% loss ETc (0.8ETc) and (iv) Drip irrigation to compensate 60% loss of ETc (0.6ETc). Four mulch treatments were: (i) nonwoven jute agro textile (JM) of 350 g m − 2 (gsm) thickness; (ii) biodegradable plastic film (BM) of 20 µm thickness; (iii) rice straw (SM) @ 5 Mg ha − 1 , and (iv) no mulch (NM). A total of 16 treatment combinations (Table 3 ) were allocated in a randomized complete block design and each treatment combination was replicated thrice. The BM (Ecovio ® M2351, BASF India Ltd make) is a semi-crystalline, aliphatic, aromatic co-polyester mulch material based on monomers of 1, 4-butanediols-adipic acid, and terephthalic acid in the polymer chain. Table 3 Treatment interactions for different irrigation and mulch regimes applied to strawberry. Irrigation regime Mulch JM BM SM NM 0.6ETc 0.6ETcJM 0.6ETcBM 0.6ETcSM 0.6ETcNM 0.8ETc 0.8ETcJM 0.8ETcBM 0.8ETcSM 0.8ETcNM 1.0ETc 1.0ETcJM 1.0ETcBM 1.0ETcSM 1.0ETcNM SI SIJM SIBM SISM SINM SI: Surface irrigation with IW/CPE ratio of 1.0 with 25 mm IW at each irrigation; 1.0ETc: Drip irrigation to compensate for 100% loss of actual evapotranspiration; 0.8ETc:Drip irrigation to compensate 80% loss of actual evapotranspiration; 0.6ETc: Drip irrigation to compensate 60% loss of actual evapotranspiration; JM: nonwoven jute agro textile mulch with 350 g m − 2 (gsm) thickness; BM: Biodegradable plastic film mulch of 20 µm thickness; SM: Rice straw mulch @ 5 Mg ha − 1 , and NM: no mulch. 2.3. Crop husbandry A short-day, early Sweet Charlie variety resistant to anthracnose crown and fruit rot disease was used. It has a medium fruit size. Micro propagated plantlets of strawberry were planted in the first week of November each year, i.e., 2015, 2016, and 2017. Planting of micro propagated plantlets was done on trapezoidal beds (110 cm base, 30 cm height and 70 cm top). The beds are placed at 40 cm apart with total 40 plants (ten plants per row) in each plot (3m × 3m). Irrigation was scheduled based on three crop growth stages viz. establishment, development and maturity stages. The establishment stage was up to 30 days after planting (DAP) with the beginning of a rapid growth after recovering from planting shock, the development stage was from 31 to 110 DAP till the full coverage of the ground by crop canopy and initiation of flowering, and the maturity stage was from 111 to 140 DAP with the initiation of fruiting, fruit set, maturity and harvest (Allen et al. 1998 ). 2.4. Leaf and root growth Leaf area meter (LAM 211, Systronics, India) was used to measure LAI from 15 days after planting onwards at seven days intervals. METcllic core (10.3 cm internal diameter, 16.4 cm height) was used to collect root samples of four plants per plot (fourth and seventh plants each from middle two rows) at harvest. Collected samples were cleaned with running tap water, cut into smaller pieces, and carefully spread separately in glass petri-dishes (40 cm × 20 cm). Graph paper with 1 cm grid lines were kept below the petri-dishes to count numbers (N) (Bὄhm 1979). The root parameters were calculated as follows: Total root length (R, cm) = \(\left(\frac{11}{14}\right)\) × number of interactions (N) × grid unit (1) Root length density (RLD, m m − 3 ) = \(\frac{\text{R}}{\left[\text{v}\text{o}\text{l}\text{u}\text{m}\text{e} \text{o}\text{f} \text{c}\text{o}\text{r}\text{e} \right]}\) (2) 2.5. Root-zone soil water distribution APR2/6 profile probe (Delta-T Devices Ltd., Cambridge, UK) was used to monitor daily soil water from 0–100, 101–200, 201–300, and 301–400 mm layers. In the drip irrigated treatments, water was applied at 1.0ETc, 0.8ETc and 0.6ETc at 3-day intervals with 4.0 l h − 1 discharge rate. In the case of surface irrigation, water was scheduled when CPE exceeded 25 mm. The depth-averaged soil-water content in the active root zone (400 m) between field capacity and the permanent wilting point is the potential plant available water (PPAW). In the experimental soil, the PPAW value was 102 mm and the fraction of PPAW, stored in the root zone, under different treatments was calculated (Bell et al. 2020 ). 2.6. Water balance and water use efficiency The irrigation water amount (V, m 3 ) for an area (A, m 2 ) was calculated after Kumar and Dey ( 2011 ): V =∑ (ETc × N × A) (3) where N is the number of days between two irrigations. The reference evapotranspiration (ETo, mm) was computed by multiplying pan evaporation (Epan, mm) with pan coefficient (Kp), where 0.85 was considered as the Kp (Allen et al. 1998 ). Actual evapotranspiration (ETc, mm) was computed as: ETc = ETpan × Kp × Kc = ETo × Kc (4) Kc values were taken from Allen et al. ( 1998 ) as 0.40, 0.85 and 0.75 for the establishment or initial phase, development or mid phase and maturity or end season, respectively. ETc of strawberry was retrieved from the typical water balance equation for the entire growing season (Biswas et al. 2021 ): ETc = P + I + C – R – D - ΔS (5) where P is the effective precipitation and it is assumed nil under greenhouse, I is the irrigation water applied (mm). C is capillary rise from the ground water table and was assumed nil because the ground water table is deep (> 2.5m). R is the surface runoff and was also assumed zero as no water moved horizontally below the surface. Drainage (D, mm) from the root zone was measured as: D = \({\int }_{{t}_{1}}^{{t}_{2}}Vz\partial t\) (6) Where, Vz is soil water flux (mm d − 1 ) at 400 mm depth at a 24 h time interval (between t 1 and t 2 ), and was determined using Darcy’s equation: Vz = \(-k\left(\stackrel{-}{\theta }\right)\left(\frac{\varPsi {m}_{2}-{\psi }_{{m}_{1}}}{{z}_{2}-{z}_{1}}+1\right)\) (7) where hydraulic conductivity, k( \(\stackrel{-}{{\theta }}\) ) was measured through a modified instantaneous field profile method regarding average soil water between depths Z 1 (450 mm) and Z 2 (350 mm) (Biswas et al. 2021 ); and are at the matric potential (determined through tensiometer reading) at depths Z 2 and Z 1 , respectively. The change in soil profile water (ΔS) in the 0-400 mm depth was computed as: $$\varDelta S={\int }_{0}^{z}{\int }_{t1}^{t2}\frac{\partial \theta }{\partial t}\delta z\delta t$$ 8 where, θ is soil water content (mm) at depth z, measured between two irrigation dates t 1 and t 2 . Water use efficiency (WUE), expressed in kg m − 3 , was computed following (Zheng et al. 2013 ): $$\text{W}\text{U}\text{E}=\frac{\text{Y}}{\text{E}\text{T}\text{c}}$$ 9 where, Y is the fruit yield (kg ha − 1 ). Fruits were harvested when mature and there were 13 pickings in the first year and 11 in the second year at 2–7-day intervals. Data were collected from inner ten tagged plants from each plot for recording yield plant − 1 (g). 2.7 Statistical analyses All the data, except the soil moisture distribution after irrigation, were analyzed by three-way ANOVA (year, irrigation regime, and mulching regime). Tukey multiple range test was performed for separation of treatment means at 5% level of significance. Statistical software JMP version Pro v16.0 (JMP 2012 ) and MS Excel 2021 were used. The statistical measurements of the coefficient of determination (R 2 ) of the best-fit polynomial equations were determined to indicate the degree of association between two variables, and the explainable percentage of variation. 3. Results Three-way ANOVA revealed that the main effect of year, the first order interaction effects between year and irrigation regime and year and mulching regime, and the second order interactions among year, irrigation regime and mulch regime were not varied significantly (Table 4 ). Hence, results and discussion on above effects were avoided by concentrating only on three year means and on significant effects. Table 4 Results of the analysis of variance (three-way ANOVA with interaction) Sources of variation RLD ΔS Drainage ETc Yield WUE Leaf area index (DAP) PPAW (%) (DAP) Estab Dev Mat total 15 45 75 105 135 21 49 112 140 Year ns Ns ns ns ns ns ns ns Ns ns ns ns ns ns ns ns ns ns Irrigation regime ** ** ** ** ** ** ** *** ** ns ** ** ** ** *** ** *** *** Mulch * * * * * * * * * ns * * * * ns * * * Year*Irrigation regime ns Ns ns ns ns ns ns ns Ns ns ns ns ns ns ns ns ns ns Year*mulch ns Ns ns ns ns ns ns ns Ns ns ns ns ns ns ns ns ns ns Irrigation regime * mulch *** ** ** ** ** ** ** * * ns ** ** ** ** ns * ** * Year * Irrigation regime * mulch ns Ns ns ns ns ns ns ns Ns ns ns ns ns ns ns ns ns ns Sources of variation Root zone soil water storage (DAP) 21 28 35 42 49 56 63 70 77 84 91 98 105 112 119 126 133 140 Year ns ns ns ns ns ns ns ns ns Ns ns ns ns ns ns ns ns ns Irrigation regime *** ** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** ** *** *** *** *** *** Mulch * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Year*Irrigation regime ns ns ns ns ns ns ns ns ns Ns ns ns ns ns ns ns ns ns Year*mulch ns ns ns ns ns ns ns ns ns Ns ns ns ns ns ns ns ns ns Irrigation regime * mulch ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** * ** ** ** ** ** Year * Irrigation regime * mulch ns ns ns ns ns ns ns ns ns Ns ns ns ns ns ns ns ns ns * p < 0.05, ** p < 0.01, *** p < 0.001, ns - nonsignificant RLD-root length density, ΔS- change in soil water storage, ETc- Actual evapotranspiration, Estab. – establishment phase, Dev. – devotement phase, Mat. – maturity phase, WUE – water use efficiency, DAP – days after planting 3.1. Leaf growth and leaf area index The temporal changes of LAI measured at monthly interval from 15 DAP to 135 DAP during 2015-16. 2016-17 and 2017-18 were affected by irrigation and mulching regimes (Fig. 1, Table 4 ). Average LAI was higher in drip irrigation ranging from 6.32 in 0.6ETc to 7.81 in 1.0ETc as compared to SI (5.89) and 0.8ETc (7.56). The LAI of strawberry was 57, 48, and 22% higher with the use of JM, BM and SM, as compared to NM. The average LAI in 1.0ETcJM and 0.8ETcJM was about two times higher than that in SINM or SISM. LAI followed a cubic relation with age, i.e., days after planting (DAP) in strawberry as expressed in the equation below. LAI = 0.3484–0.01492 × (DAP) + 0.002764 × (DAP) 2 − 1.55 e -5 × (DAP) 3 (10) Where, R 2 = 0.793; n = 720 and P = < 0.0001. 3.2. Root growth The highest RLD was recorded at harvest in 0.8ETc, whereas the least RLD was recorded in SI among the irrigation treatments pooled over the years (Table 5 ). Mulch use influenced root growth also. RLD was the highest in JM followed by SM. The lowest RLD was observed in NM. RLD of 0.8ETcBM was the highest followed by 0.8ETcJM. RLD of 0.8ETcJM were 2.2 and 3.4 times higher than that of SISM and SINM. Table 5 Effect of irrigation and mulch regimes on root length density (×10 3 , m m − 3 ) of strawberry at harvest (data are averages for three years). Irrigation regime Mulch regime Mean JM BM SM NM 0.6ETc 6.59 d 7.36 b 6.69 cd 5.48 f 6.53 γ 0.8ETc 7.15 b 7.95 a 7.34 b 5.98 e 7.10 δ 1.0ETc 5.70 ef 6.98 bc 6.04 e 4.83 g 5.89 β SI 2.90 j 4.10 h 3.19 i 2.13 k 3.08 α Mean 5.58 B 6.60 D 5.82 C 4.61 A Means followed by different letters (Tukey ranking) differ significantly at 5% level of significance. SI: Surface irrigation; 1.0ETc, 0.8ETc and 0.6ETc are drip irrigation regimes to compensate 100%, 80% and 60% of actual crop evapotranspiration loss from the field respectively. BM - biodegradable plastic film, JM - Nonwoven jute agrotextile mulch, SM - Rice straw mulch and NM – No mulch. 3.3. Soil water redistribution after irrigation in the root zone The water content in the soil profiles under each irrigation treatment during 2015-16 is shown in Fig. 2a and 2b. Total soil water at the root zone within 72 hours of irrigation was 25 and 22% higher in 1.0ETc and 0.8ETc, respectively over SI during peak fruit harvest week. Soil water content in the soil surface was around 50% lower in drip irrigation than that in conventional surface irrigation. Water retention at 200–300 mm sub soil was the highest in 0.8-1.0 ETc followed by 0.6ETc and it was the lowest in SI. Redistributed soil water was around 10% higher in drip irrigation than surface irrigation within 72 hours of irrigation in the active root zone of 101–300 mm. Topsoil (0-100 mm) remained moist in SI (39% of total soil water) that favoured more evaporation than drip irrigation treatments. Average soil water retention at root zone within 72 hours of irrigation was the highest in 1.0ETcBM followed 1.0ETcJM followed by 0.8ETcBM and 0.8ETcJM. 3.4. Total soil water content at the root zone Drip irrigation maintained stable soil water as obversed in the average data of all three years throughout the crop growth period. Root zone soil water was higher in 0.8ETc and 1.0ETc irrigation regimes than that in 0.6ETc and SI (Fig. 3). Soil water content among the mulch treatment was in the order of JM > BM > SM > NM. Soil water at the root zone was 60% higher with drip irrigation at 0.8ETc and 1.0ETc than conventional SI during the entire crop growth stage (Fig. 3). The use of mulch in strawberry also effectively conserved soil water, with JM being the most effective and SM the least effective. Total soil water storing capacity was highest at 0.8ETcJM followed by 1.0ETcJM or 1.0ETcBM or 0.8ETcBM. Total water storage was three and two times higher in 0.8ETcJM than SINM and SISM, respectively. Average field plant available water (PAW) exceeded or equaled 50% PPAW (102 mm) under drip irrigation for the entire crop growth period. But in SI, PAW decreased from the early development stage with acute water shortage (38% PPAW) observed during maturity (Fig. 4). The highest average plant available water was recorded with 1.0ETcJM (82% PPAW) followed by 1.0ETcBM (76% PPAW) and 0.8ETcJM (75% PPAW). The lowest average available water was with 0.6ETcNM (42%) and SINM (38%). 3.5. Actual evapotranspiration Irrigation and mulching regimes had significant effects on the means of evapotranspiration of strawberry (Table 6 ). Seasonal ET ranged from 101 to 228 mm based on irrigation treatment and seasonal conditions. Seasonal ET was 19, 33, and 49% higher in treatments that received surface irrigation at IW/CPE = 1 than the treatments that received irrigation at 1.0ETC, 0.8ETc, and 0.6ETc through drip irrigation, respectively (Table 6 ). Seasonal ET was 12–14% higher in mulched plots over un-mulched bare soil. It was higher during the development phase (31–110 DAP) than the establishment or maturity stage (Fig. 5). The highest ET was estimated at SINM and the lowest ET was estimated in at 0.6ETc irrespective of mulch treatments. Since uniform irrigation was given up to 15 DAP and irrigation treatment started from 15 DAP only, crop ET did not differ among the irrigation regimes during the establishment phase (0–30 DAP). Table 6 Influence of irrigation and mulch regimes on components of soil water balance, yield and water use efficiency of strawberry (data are averages for three years). Treatment Irrigation applied (mm) Changes in soil water storage* (mm) Drainage (mm) Evapo-transpiration (crop) (mm) Yield (Mg ha − 1 ) Water use efficiency (kg m − 3 ) Irrigation regime 0.6ETc 106.2 2.9 α 1.2 α 107.9 α 12.4 γ 12.2 β 0.8ETc 133.3 5.6 β 2.9 α 136.0 β 25.5 α 19.1 δ 1.0ETc 160.4 13.0 γ 4.7 α 168.7 γ 25.6 α 15.8 γ SI 233.1 74.4 δ 60.2 β 247.3 δ 14.4 β 7.2 α Mulch regime BM 158.3 6.6 A 3.2 A 161.7 B 21.2 B 14.3 B JM 158.3 9.8 B 3.9 A 164.1 B 23.7 A 16.4 C SM 158.3 36.2 C 6.5 B 188.0 C 17.7 C 11.8 A NM 158.3 43.4 D 55.5 C 146.2 A 15.2 D 11.8 A Interactions 0.6 ETc BM 106.2 0.8 k 0.2 i 106.8 g 13.5 h 12.9 g 0.6ETc JM 106.2 1.2 k 0.3 i 107.2 g 15.1 f 14.7 e 0.6ETc SM 106.2 4.4 i 0.5 i 110.2 g 11.3 k 10.6 i 0.6ETc NM 106.2 5.3 h 4.0 g 107.6 g 9.7 k 9.4 j 0.8ETc BM 133.3 1.5 j 0.5 i 134.3 f 27.8 b 20.1 b 0.8ETc JM 133.3 2.3 j 0.7 i 134.9 f 31.1 a 23.1 a 0.8ETc SM 133.3 8.5 g 1.1 h 140.7 f 23.2 c 16.6 d 0.8ETc NM 133.3 10.2 f 9.4 f 134.1 f 19.9 d 14.8 e 1.0ETc BM 160.4 3.6 i 0.9 i 163.1 e 27.9 b 16.6 d 1.0ETc JM 160.4 5.3 h 1.1 h 164.6 e 31.2 a 19.1 c 1.0ETc SM 160.4 19.7 e 1.8 h 178.2 d 23.3 c 13.7 f 1.0ETc NM 160.4 23.6 d 15.2 c 168.7 e 20.0 d 12.2 h SIBM 233.1 20.5 e 11.0 e 242.5 c 15.7 f 7.6 l SIJM 233.1 30.4 c 13.7 d 249.8 b 17.6 e 8.7 k SISM 233.1 112.2 b 22.7 b 174.3 d 13.5 h 12.9 g SINM 233.1 134.5 a 193.3 a 322.7 a 13.1 i 6.3 m Means followed by different letters (Tukey ranking) differ significantly at 5% level of significance. * Change of soil water storage between planting date and last harvesting date of strawberry; SI: Surface irrigation, 1.0ETc, 0.8ETc and 0.6ETc are drip irrigation regimes to compensate 100%, 80% and 60% of actual crop evapotranspiration loss from the field respectively. BM - biodegradable plastic film, JM - nonwoven jute agrotextile mulch, SM - rice straw mulch and NM – no mulch. 3.6 Yield and water use efficiency Irrigation and mulch regimes influenced the strawberry yield. Irrigation through drip with 0.8-1.0ETc resulted in the highest and with 0.6ETc recorded the lowest yield (Table 6 ). Efficacy of mulches in terms of strawberry productivity was in the order of JM > BM > SM > NM. Among the treatment combinations, the highest yield was with 0.8ETcJM and lowest yield was with 0.6ETcNM. Among the mulches, water use efficiency was highest in JM followed by BM. The highest WUE was recorded with 0.8ETcJM and lowest with SIJM, SINM and SISM (Table 6 ). 4. Discussion This study showed that optimum irrigation and suitable mulching provided congenial environment in augmenting the root and shoot growth and development of strawberry compared to un-mulched surface irrigation. Drip irrigation and mulching hindered weed growth keeping upper soil surface dry and favorably modified soil hydrothermal regime in the rhizosphere. Kirby and Bengough ( 2002 ) reported that moist root zone reduced soil strength and favoured better root penetration in pea (Avena sativa) plants. Similar reports of greater root growth and distribution in the soil profile with drip irrigation and mulching were also observed in cotton (Wang et al. 2020 ) and maize (El-Hendawy et al. 2008 ). A stable soil water was maintained at the active root zone (0-400 mm) throughout the strawberry growth under drip irrigation. More than 90% of the strawberry roots were located within the top 40 cm soil, as also reported by Létourneau et al. (2015). Soil water at the root zone after irrigation was 25 and 22% higher in 1.0ETc and 0.8ETc, respectively over SI (Fig. 3). Topsoil (0-100 mm) remained moist in SI (39% of total soil water), which favoured evaporation and weed growth (Supplementary Fig. 1). Seasonal ET decreased by 19–49% in irrigation at 0.6-1.0ETc as compared to SI. This was due to the decreased volume of irrigation at 0.6 and 0.8 ETc and lower evaporation under the drip irrigation. Seasonal ET was 12–14% higher in mulched plots over un-mulched bare soil due to better root growth, resulting in higher water uptake to meet the crop transpiration demand. Optimum ET in drip irrigated strawberry grown inside a plastic greenhouse using polythene mulch at 1.1 pan factor has also been reported elsewhere (Yuan et al. 2004 ). Irrigation regimes and the use of mulches impacted the strawberry yield and water use efficiency separately or in combination. Drip irrigation at 0.8ETc alone resulted in 0.8 times higher berry productivity than the SINM did, or use of JM alone produced 0.9 times higher yield than that by SINM. However, synergy between irrigation through drip and use of jute mulch was observed with 1.4 times higher yield in 0.8ETcJM than conventional SINM. Superiority of strawberry productivity and water use efficiency in 0.8ETcJM over other treatments might be due to appropriate irrigation input, better aeration in root zone, better utilization of applied water, higher nutrient use, and better crop growth, as also observed in other studies (Kachwaya et al. 2016 ; Biswas et al. 2021 ). On the contrary, deficit irrigation can reduce transpiration and dry matter accumulation (Ghaderi and Siosemardeh 2011 ). Similar observation of higher strawberry yield in drip irrigation with 80% ETc was reported in a field experiment in North India (Singh et al., 2019 ). Plastic mulch can further aggravate root and leaf senescence during the maturity stage due to terminal heat stress affecting crop yield and water use (Yin et al. 2019 ), along with adverse ecotoxicological impact on environment (Muñoz et al. 2017 ; Conti et al. 2020 ; Li et al. 2020 ). Our study showed that use of jute mulch improved soil water dynamics and increased root and shoot growth and strawberry productivity. Our results are consistent with those of Manna et al. ( 2018 ) and Sarkar et al. ( 2018 ), who also reported that the use of jute mulch favours microbial growth and rooting behaviour and bioavailability of nutrients in crops like capsicum, pointed gourd, sweet lime, turmeric and broccoli. Overall, our results demonstrate that irrigation and mulching treatments changed strawberry yield and water use efficiency and that 0.8ETcJM treatment resulted in highest strawberry productivity and water use efficiency. 5. Conclusions Information on spatiotemporal soil water distribution at the root zone is important to optimize irrigation requirement for a water-sensitive crop like strawberry grown in the greenhouse for its proper growth, yield and water use efficiency. In our study, drip irrigation, to meet the evaporative demand of 80-100% and the use of jute agro textile mulch was found to be the best irrigation option. Such optimized irrigation and mulch regime provided the congenial environment in augmenting the leaf area and root growth and development with highest RLD, LAI compared to surface irrigation and other drip irrigation regimes. Total water storage was three and two times higher in 0.8ETc JM than SINM and SISM, respectively. It maintained three times higher soil water in the active root zone resulting in three- and four-times higher yield and water use efficiency, respectively than surface irrigated unmulched strawberry. We suggest that such findings be incorporated into packages and practices of strawberry cultivation in the moist tropical sub-humid region of Bengal basin and other similar agroecological regions of South Asia. Declarations The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest. Authors’ contributions Benukar Biswas : Data curation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Software, Validation, Visualization, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing, Jagadish Timsina: Review & editing. Krishna Gopal Mandal : Review & editing. Anandkumar Naorem : Graphics Acknowledgments We thank ICAR-Indian Institute of Water Management, nodal cell of All India Co-ordinated Research Project of Irrigation Water Management and Government of West Bengal for fund and Directorate of Research, Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya (state agricultural university of West Bengal, India) for support. References Allen RG, Pereira LS, Raes D, Smith M (1998) Crop evapotranspiration. Guidelines for computing crop water requirements. FAO Irrigation and Drainage Paper, No. 56. Food and Agricultural Organization, Rome. Bell JM, Schwartz RC, McInnes KJ, et al (2020) Effects of irrigation level and timing on profile soil water use by grain sorghum. Agric Water Manag 232:. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agwat.2020.106030 Bellasi A, Binda G, Pozzi A, et al (2020) Microplastic contamination in freshwater environments: A review, focusing on interactions with sediments and benthic organisms. Environments 7(4):30. https://doi.org/10.3390/environments7040030 Biswas B, Chakraborty D, Timsina J, et al (2021) Replacing winter rice in non-traditional areas by strawberry reduces arsenic bioaccumulation , and improves water productivity and profitability. Sci Total Environ 788:147810. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.147810 Bὄhm W (1979) Methods of studying root systems, Ecological Studies No 33. Springer-Verlag, Berlin, Heidelberg, New York Conti G, Ferrantea M, Bannib M, et al (2020) Micro- and nano-plastics in edible fruit and vegetables. The first diet risks assessment for the general population. Environ Res 187:109677. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2020.109677 El-Hendawy SE, El-Lattief EAA, Ahmed MS, Schmidhalter U (2008) Irrigation rate and plant density effects on yield and water use efficiency of drip-irrigated corn. Agric Water Manag 95:836–844. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agwat.2008.02.008 Ghaderi N, Siosemardeh A (2011) Esponse to drought stress of two strawberry cultivars (cv. Kurdistan and Selva). Hortic Environ Biotechnol 52:6–12. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13580-011-0019-6 JMP (2012) JMP Pro v.16.0, SAS Institute Inc., Cary, NC, USA Kachwaya DS, Chandel JS, Vikas G, Khachi B (2016) Effect of drip and furrow irrigation on yield and physiological performance of strawberry ( Fragaria × ananassa Duch.) cv. Chandler. Indian J Plant Physiol 21:341–344. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40502-016-0224-5 Kasperbauer MJ (2000) Strawberry yield over red versus black plastic mulch. Crop Sci. https://doi.org/10.2135/cropsci2000.401171x Kirby JM, Bengough AG (2002) Influence of soil strength on root growth: Experiments and analysis using a critical-state model. Eur J Soil Sci 53:119–127. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-2389.2002.00429.x Klamkowski K, Treder W (2006) Morphological and physiological responses of strawberry plants to water stress. Agric Conspec Sci 71:159–165 Kumar S, Dey P (2011) Effects of different mulches and irrigation methods on root growth, nutrient uptake, water-use efficiency and yield of strawberry. Sci Hortic (Amsterdam) 127:318–324. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scienta.2010.10.023 Létourneau G, Caron J, Anderson L, Cormier J (2015a) Matric potential-based irrigation management of field-grown strawberry: Effects on yield and water use efficiency. Agric. Water Manag. 161:102–113 Létourneau G, Caron J, Anderson L, Cormier J (2015b) Matric potential-based irrigation management of field-grown strawberry: Effects on yield and water use efficiency. Agric Water Manag 161:102–113. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agwat.2015.07.005 Li L, Luo Y, Li R, et al (2020) Effective uptake of submicrometre plastics by crop plants via a crack-entry mode. Nat Sustain. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-020-0567-9 Manna K, Kundu MC, Saha B, Ghosh GK (2018) Effect of nonwoven jute agrotextile mulch on soil health and productivity of broccoli (Brassica oleracea L.) in lateritic soil. Environ Monit Assess 190:. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-017-6452-y Muñoz K, Buchmann C, Meyer M, et al (2017) Physicochemical and microbial soil quality indicators as affected by the agricultural management system in strawberry cultivation using straw or black polyethylene mulching. Appl Soil Ecol 113:36–44. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apsoil.2017.01.014 Sarkar A, Swain N, Tarafdar PK, De SK (2018) Influence of jute agro textiles on improvement of broccoli productivity in inceptisols. J Pharmacogn Phytochem 7:1451–1454 Serrano L, Carbonell X, Savé R, et al (1992) Effects of irrigation regimes on the yield and water use of strawberry. Irrig Sci 13:45–48. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00190244 Shiukhy S, Raeini-Sarjaz M, Chalavi V (2015) Colored plastic mulch microclimates affect strawberry fruit yield and quality. Int J Biometeorol 59:1061–1066. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00484-014-0919-0 Singh S, Singh NP, Sharda R, Sangwan AK (2019) Response of irrigation, fertigation and mulching on plant growth and fruit yield of strawberry. Indian J Hortic 76:233–240. https://doi.org/10.5958/0974-0112.2019.00036.7 Tunc T, Sahin U, Evren S, et al (2019) The deficit irrigation productivity and economy in strawberry in the different drip irrigation practices in a high plain with semi-arid climate. Sci Hortic (Amsterdam) 245:47–56. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scienta.2018.10.008 Wang J, Du G, Tian J, et al (2021) Mulched drip irrigation increases cotton yield and water use efficiency via improving fine root plasticity. Agric Water Manag 255:106992. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agwat.2021.106992 Wang J, Du G, Tian J, et al (2020) Effect of irrigation methods on root growth, root-shoot ratio and yield components of cotton by regulating the growth redundancy of root and shoot. Agric Water Manag 234:106120. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agwat.2020.106120 Yin W, Fan Z, Hu F, et al (2019) Innovation in alternate mulch with straw and plastic management bolsters yield and water use efficiency in wheat-maize intercropping in arid conditions. Sci Rep 9:1–14. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-42790-x Yuan BZ, Sun J, Nishiyama S (2004) Effect of drip irrigation on strawberry growth and yield inside a plastic greenhouse. Biosyst Eng 87:237–245. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biosystemseng.2003.10.014 Zheng J, Huang G, Wang J, et al (2013) Effects of water deficits on growth, yield and water productivity of drip-irrigated onion ( Allium cepa L.) in an arid region of Northwest China. Irrig Sci 31:995–1008. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00271-012-0378-5 Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Supplementary Files GraphicalAbstract.png SupplementaryFig.1.png Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-2766264","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":188832784,"identity":"aa973b51-01e7-4ed1-bde1-2bf2bc8b5ab3","order_by":0,"name":"Benukar Biswas","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAAw0lEQVRIiWNgGAWjYBACCQbGBiCSkGNg4CFRizEpWoAAqCuxgWgtkrMPtz34ucMifcPxswcffGCwk9NtIKBFmi+x3bD3jETuhjN5yYYzGJKNzQ4Q0CLHw9gmwdsG1HIgx0yah+FA4jZitEj+bZNINzj/hkgt0kAt0kBbEgxuEGuLZA9ju7Fsm4ThzBtvjA1nGBDhF4kz7M8evm2rk+c7n2P44EOFnRxBLUDABiYVwCoNCCtHaJFvIE71KBgFo2AUjEAAAPSdPqtg5MMdAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC","orcid":"","institution":"Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya","correspondingAuthor":true,"submittingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Benukar","middleName":"","lastName":"Biswas","suffix":""},{"id":188832785,"identity":"c3703b29-397e-45c2-80c8-2d9c79d3dcb2","order_by":1,"name":"Jagadish Timsina","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Global Evergreening Alliance","correspondingAuthor":false,"submittingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Jagadish","middleName":"","lastName":"Timsina","suffix":""},{"id":188832786,"identity":"8aa6c074-d116-473c-b343-4cda8c88ac45","order_by":2,"name":"Krishna Gopal Mandal","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"ICAR- Mahatma Gandhi Integrated Farming Research Institute, Motihari, 845429, Bihar","correspondingAuthor":false,"submittingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Krishna","middleName":"Gopal","lastName":"Mandal","suffix":""},{"id":188832787,"identity":"b1ec21fe-2291-42fc-8126-ddba32a93d3d","order_by":3,"name":"Anandkumar Naorem","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"ICAR-Central Arid Zone Research Institute","correspondingAuthor":false,"submittingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Anandkumar","middleName":"","lastName":"Naorem","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2023-04-01 23:14:11","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-2766264/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-2766264/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":35335124,"identity":"fe3efbb2-c4c2-455d-9192-23092557ee74","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2023-04-05 14:26:31","extension":"png","order_by":1,"title":"Figure 1","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":68672,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003eSee image above for figure legend\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"1.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-2766264/v1/0d19472c7630c8d6876236d1.png"},{"id":35335125,"identity":"d78e683e-55b3-4e46-85ee-00d6a9064544","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2023-04-05 14:26:31","extension":"png","order_by":2,"title":"Figure 2","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":456515,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003ea. Spatial and temporal changes of soil water after drip irrigation to meet 60% and 80% actual crop evapotranspiration under different mulch regimes during peak fruiting stage (100 days after planting) during 2015-16.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJM - nonwoven jute agrotextile mulch, BM - biodegradable plastic film, SM - rice straw mulch, and NM – no mulch.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eb. Spatial and temporal changes of soil water after drip irrigation to meet 100% crop evapotranspiration and after surface irrigation at IW/CPE = 1 under different mulch regimes during peak fruiting stage (100 days after planting) during 2015-16.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJM - nonwoven jute agrotextile mulch, BM - biodegradable plastic film, SM - rice straw mulch, and NM – no mulch.\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"2.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-2766264/v1/54e53613b5a384c87223c6af.png"},{"id":35336514,"identity":"6badc3de-6409-425b-8944-7738788818fd","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2023-04-05 14:42:31","extension":"png","order_by":3,"title":"Figure 3","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":111809,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003eSee image above for figure legend\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"3.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-2766264/v1/03f01407b11c2609c2d438e5.png"},{"id":35336247,"identity":"ff5b55b8-ce8c-4a46-9195-6bd2ca65b0a3","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2023-04-05 14:34:31","extension":"png","order_by":4,"title":"Figure 4","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":65148,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003eSee image above for figure legend\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"4.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-2766264/v1/ff5e3be3e3053336f1149669.png"},{"id":35335120,"identity":"98522cde-f182-46cb-8bd4-a79e0cf90214","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2023-04-05 14:26:31","extension":"png","order_by":5,"title":"Figure 5","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":70088,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003eSee image above for figure legend\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"5.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-2766264/v1/1d5fed962cd87e2dc6902737.png"},{"id":35792649,"identity":"f014163a-eda0-4e11-858e-41e0803b9734","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2023-04-15 00:59:27","extension":"pdf","order_by":0,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":1901284,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"manuscript.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-2766264/v1/9b058c0c-f78c-4559-bec9-275e058f444b.pdf"},{"id":35337393,"identity":"0c52bf3e-229f-4bc0-9401-59c157bf5555","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2023-04-05 14:50:31","extension":"png","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"supplement","size":106016,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"GraphicalAbstract.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-2766264/v1/b894c87281db9c2339fda1b9.png"},{"id":35336250,"identity":"9a971f9c-c695-43d3-91be-593340ab8372","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2023-04-05 14:34:31","extension":"png","order_by":2,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"supplement","size":662453,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"SupplementaryFig.1.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-2766264/v1/83de8b9c843b8888881a7165.png"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"Effects of different irrigation methods and mulching on yield, growth and water use efficiency of strawberry","fulltext":[{"header":"1. Introduction","content":"\u003cp\u003eStrawberry (Fragaria \u0026times; ananassa Duch.) requires only one-sixth of irrigation-water but generates 3.5 times more net return over the winter rice, and can be grown as an alternate crop in place of in non-traditional winter rice growing areas of arsenic contaminated Bengal basin benefiting millions of people by reducing As load in food chains (Biswas et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR4\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2021\u003c/span\u003e). But, strawberry can neither withstand excess water nor drought stress (Klamkowski and Treder, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR13\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2006\u003c/span\u003e). Optimum water supply in the root zone may play a key role in improving its productivity. Soil matric potential-based irrigation thresholds of \u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;10 kPa appears to be adequate for strawberry on most types of soils and under temperate and warm climatic conditions in optimizing yield and water use efficiency and in reducing the environmental impacts associated with water and nutrients losses by runoff and leaching (L\u0026eacute;tourneau et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR15\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2015a\u003c/span\u003e). Irrigation through drip deliver water directly to the root system of crops, which then slowly and evenly penetrates into the root zone soil, allowing the root system to fully absorb soil water (Wang et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR25\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2021\u003c/span\u003e). Among the several water management options, mulching also seems to be an important one as it conserves soil water, moderates soil temperature, reduces weed and insect pest infestation, and improves yield and nutrient use efficiency in strawberry (Shiukhy et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR22\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2015\u003c/span\u003e). In an field experiment, irrigation applied through drip system and use of black polythene mulch significantly enhanced root growth and facilitate higher nutrient uptake and promoted plant growth and development resulting in significantly higher yield and water use efficiency of strawberry under sub-temperate climatic conditions at Nauni, Himachal Pradesh, India on loamy sand Inceptisols (Kumar and Dey \u003cspan citationid=\"CR14\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2011\u003c/span\u003e). With 25% deficit irrigation levels, higher fruit yields and water use efficiency in strawberry production achieved with surface drip covered with black polythene mulch than sub surface drip irrigation in cooler climate in high altitude at Turkey (Tunc et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR24\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2019\u003c/span\u003e). However, non-biodegradable plastic mulches have direct and indirect adverse consequences for long-term soil quality and ecosystem services (Steinmetz et al., 2016). Microplastic absorption and contamination in food chain is also matter of growing concern (Bellasi et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR3\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2020\u003c/span\u003e). In a field experiment in arsenic contaminated Bengal basin, jute agrotextile mulch was recommended as the environmentally friendly cultivation option in strawberry (Biswas et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR4\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2021\u003c/span\u003e). The development of greenhouse culture for high-value crops has been expanding in the Asian region (Yuan et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR28\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2004\u003c/span\u003e). However, there are few studies on how irrigation regimes and different mulches influence soil water distribution in the root zone and affect plant growth and then determine the water use efficiency and crop yield under protected condition. We proposed that mulched drip irrigation improve the soil water distribution, promotes the root and shoot growth and thus enhances the absorption of soil water for higher yield and water productivity. To confirm our hypothesis, we carried out a comparative experiment to evaluate the effect of irrigation and mulch regimes on: i) root and shoot growth of strawberry, ii) soil water dynamics and soil water balance in the root zone, and iii) evapotranspiration, crop productivity, and water use efficiency of strawberry grown under protected condition in a sub-humid climate in Bengal basin.\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"2. Materials And Methods","content":"\u003cdiv id=\"Sec3\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003e2.1. \u003cem\u003eExperimental site\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eGreenhouse trials were carried out during the winter season (November -March) of 2015\u0026ndash;2016, 2016\u0026ndash;2017, and 2017\u0026ndash;2018 at the Central Research Farm of the Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Gayeshpur, India, located at 23\u003csup\u003eo\u003c/sup\u003e5.4' N, 83\u003csup\u003eo\u003c/sup\u003e5.4' E and 10.5m amsl. The study site represents the tropical and moist subhumid region in arsenic contaminated Bengal basin, with 1600 mm average annual rainfall. Long-term mean temperature at the study site ranges from 15.5 to 21.3\u003csup\u003e0\u003c/sup\u003eC in the coldest month of January and from 27.6 to 31.7\u003csup\u003e0\u003c/sup\u003eC in the hottest month of May, respectively. Pan evaporation (E\u003csub\u003epan\u003c/sub\u003e) during the cropping period in three experimental seasons have been recorded daily at 8.30am from a USWB class A stainless steel circular pan (diameter 121cm and height 25.5cm) kept on wooden platform in the greenhouse (Table\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Tab1\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e1\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"gridtable\"\u003e\u003ctable float=\"Yes\" id=\"Tab1\" border=\"1\"\u003e \u003ccaption language=\"En\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"CaptionNumber\"\u003eTable 1\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"CaptionContent\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eWeekly pan evaporation (E\u003csub\u003epan\u003c/sub\u003e) during the cropping period in three experimental years.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003c/caption\u003e \u003ccolgroup cols=\"5\"\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c1\" colnum=\"1\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c2\" colnum=\"2\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c3\" colnum=\"3\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c4\" colnum=\"4\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c5\" colnum=\"5\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cthead\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\" morerows=\"1\" rowspan=\"2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eStandard meteorological week\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eDate\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colspan=\"3\" nameend=\"c5\" namest=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eCropping year\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e2015-16\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e2016-17\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e2017-18\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/thead\u003e \u003ctbody\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e44\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e29Oct-4Nov\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e11.0\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e9.0\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e10.6\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e45\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e5-11Nov\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e14.3\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e11.4\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e14.3\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e46\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e12-18Nov\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e11.2\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e8.7\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e9.4\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e47\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e19-25Nov\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e11.3\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e6.4\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e10.8\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e48\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e26-2Dec\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e8.7\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e8.7\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e8.6\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e49\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e3-9Dec\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e7.5\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e8.0\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e7.3\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e50\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e10-16Dec\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e8.3\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e6.8\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e6.9\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e51\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e17-23Dec\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e6.4\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e5.8\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e6.7\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e52\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e24-31Dec\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e8.6\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e6.4\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e8.3\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e01\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1\u0026ndash;7 Jan\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e5.2\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e7.1\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e7.5\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e02\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e8\u0026ndash;14 Jan\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e7.6\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e8.6\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e6.7\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e03\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e15-21Jan\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e6.7\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e8.7\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e7.4\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e04\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e22-28Jan\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e8.3\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e8.9\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e10.6\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e05\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e29-4Feb\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e10.4\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e9.6\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e11.1\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e06\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e5-11Feb\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e10.1\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e12.9\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e12.6\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e07\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e12-18Feb\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e10.5\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e12.3\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e15.3\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e08\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e19-25Feb\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e19.3\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e17.9\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e16.2\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e09\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e26-4Mar\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e15.6\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e23.3\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e20.2\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e10\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e5-11Mar\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e17.0\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e15.3\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e27.1\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e11\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e12-18Mar\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e23.0\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e25.3\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e23.8\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e12\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e19-25Mar\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e24.0\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e24.5\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e23.2\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e13\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e26-1Apr\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e25.2\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e29.2\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e25.5\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/tbody\u003e \u003c/colgroup\u003e \u003ctfoot\u003e \u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd colspan=\"5\"\u003ePan coefficient (K\u003csub\u003ep\u003c/sub\u003e) value for the study site was considered as 0.85\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/tfoot\u003e \u003c/table\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe soil of the experimental site is classified as sandy loam, \u003cem\u003eAeric Haplaquept\u003c/em\u003e. Important soil hydro-physical properties of different horizons are presented in Table\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Tab2\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e2\u003c/span\u003e. The basic chemical properties of the surface (0\u0026ndash;15 cm) soil were as: pH 6.36, organic carbon 5.2 g kg\u003csup\u003e\u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;1\u003c/sup\u003e, available N, P\u003csub\u003e2\u003c/sub\u003eO\u003csub\u003e5,\u003c/sub\u003e and K\u003csub\u003e2\u003c/sub\u003eO as 89, 13.3, and 65 kg ha\u003csup\u003e\u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;1\u003c/sup\u003e, respectively.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eTable 2\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHydro-physical characteristics of the experimental soil.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg src=\"https://myfiles.space/user_files/122228_c8a1650c59388082/122228_custom_files/img1680700420.png\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv id=\"Sec4\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003e2.2. \u003cem\u003eExperimental treatments\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eExperiments with sole strawberry were conducted with four irrigation regimes: (i) Surface irrigation (SI) with IW/CPE (ratio of the amount of irrigation water applied to cumulative pan evaporation) at 1.0 with 25 mm IW at each irrigation; (ii) Drip irrigation to compensate for 100% loss of actual evapotranspiration (1.0ETc); (iii) Drip irrigation to compensate 80% loss ETc (0.8ETc) and (iv) Drip irrigation to compensate 60% loss of ETc (0.6ETc). Four mulch treatments were: (i) nonwoven jute agro textile (JM) of 350 g m\u003csup\u003e\u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;2\u003c/sup\u003e (gsm) thickness; (ii) biodegradable plastic film (BM) of 20 \u0026micro;m thickness; (iii) rice straw (SM) @ 5 Mg ha\u003csup\u003e\u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;1\u003c/sup\u003e, and (iv) no mulch (NM). A total of 16 treatment combinations (Table\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Tab3\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e3\u003c/span\u003e) were allocated in a randomized complete block design and each treatment combination was replicated thrice. The BM (Ecovio \u0026reg; M2351, BASF India Ltd make) is a semi-crystalline, aliphatic, aromatic co-polyester mulch material based on monomers of 1, 4-butanediols-adipic acid, and terephthalic acid in the polymer chain.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"gridtable\"\u003e\u003ctable float=\"Yes\" id=\"Tab3\" border=\"1\"\u003e \u003ccaption language=\"En\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"CaptionNumber\"\u003eTable 3\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"CaptionContent\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eTreatment interactions for different irrigation and mulch regimes applied to strawberry.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003c/caption\u003e \u003ccolgroup cols=\"5\"\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c1\" colnum=\"1\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c2\" colnum=\"2\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c3\" colnum=\"3\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c4\" colnum=\"4\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c5\" colnum=\"5\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cthead\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\" morerows=\"1\" rowspan=\"2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eIrrigation regime\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colspan=\"4\" nameend=\"c5\" namest=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eMulch\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eJM\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eBM\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eSM\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eNM\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/thead\u003e \u003ctbody\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.6ETc\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.6ETcJM\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.6ETcBM\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.6ETcSM\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.6ETcNM\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.8ETc\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.8ETcJM\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.8ETcBM\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.8ETcSM\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.8ETcNM\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1.0ETc\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1.0ETcJM\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1.0ETcBM\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1.0ETcSM\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1.0ETcNM\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eSI\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eSIJM\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eSIBM\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eSISM\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eSINM\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/tbody\u003e \u003c/colgroup\u003e \u003ctfoot\u003e \u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd colspan=\"5\"\u003eSI: Surface irrigation with IW/CPE ratio of 1.0 with 25 mm IW at each irrigation; 1.0ETc: Drip irrigation to compensate for 100% loss of actual evapotranspiration; 0.8ETc:Drip irrigation to compensate 80% loss of actual evapotranspiration; 0.6ETc: Drip irrigation to compensate 60% loss of actual evapotranspiration; JM: nonwoven jute agro textile mulch with 350 g m\u003csup\u003e\u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;2\u003c/sup\u003e (gsm) thickness; BM: Biodegradable plastic film mulch of 20 \u0026micro;m thickness; SM: Rice straw mulch @ 5 Mg ha\u003csup\u003e\u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;1\u003c/sup\u003e, and NM: no mulch.\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/tfoot\u003e \u003c/table\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv id=\"Sec5\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003e2.3. \u003cem\u003eCrop husbandry\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eA short-day, early Sweet Charlie variety resistant to anthracnose crown and fruit rot disease was used. It has a medium fruit size. Micro propagated plantlets of strawberry were planted in the first week of November each year, i.e., 2015, 2016, and 2017. Planting of micro propagated plantlets was done on trapezoidal beds (110 cm base, 30 cm height and 70 cm top). The beds are placed at 40 cm apart with total 40 plants (ten plants per row) in each plot (3m \u0026times; 3m). Irrigation was scheduled based on three crop growth stages viz. establishment, development and maturity stages. The establishment stage was up to 30 days after planting (DAP) with the beginning of a rapid growth after recovering from planting shock, the development stage was from 31 to 110 DAP till the full coverage of the ground by crop canopy and initiation of flowering, and the maturity stage was from 111 to 140 DAP with the initiation of fruiting, fruit set, maturity and harvest (Allen et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR1\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e1998\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv id=\"Sec6\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003e2.4. Leaf and root growth\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eLeaf area meter (LAM 211, Systronics, India) was used to measure LAI from 15 days after planting onwards at seven days intervals. METcllic core (10.3 cm internal diameter, 16.4 cm height) was used to collect root samples of four plants per plot (fourth and seventh plants each from middle two rows) at harvest. Collected samples were cleaned with running tap water, cut into smaller pieces, and carefully spread separately in glass petri-dishes (40 cm \u0026times; 20 cm). Graph paper with 1 cm grid lines were kept below the petri-dishes to count numbers (N) (Bὄhm 1979). The root parameters were calculated as follows:\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eTotal root length (R, cm) = \u003cspan class=\"InlineEquation\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"mathinline\"\u003e\\(\\left(\\frac{11}{14}\\right)\\)\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e \u0026times; number of interactions (N) \u0026times; grid unit (1)\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eRoot length density (RLD, m m\u003csup\u003e\u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;3\u003c/sup\u003e) = \u003cspan class=\"InlineEquation\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"mathinline\"\u003e\\(\\frac{\\text{R}}{\\left[\\text{v}\\text{o}\\text{l}\\text{u}\\text{m}\\text{e} \\text{o}\\text{f} \\text{c}\\text{o}\\text{r}\\text{e} \\right]}\\)\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e (2)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv id=\"Sec7\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003e2.5. \u003cem\u003eRoot-zone soil water distribution\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eAPR2/6 profile probe (Delta-T Devices Ltd., Cambridge, UK) was used to monitor daily soil water from 0\u0026ndash;100, 101\u0026ndash;200, 201\u0026ndash;300, and 301\u0026ndash;400 mm layers. In the drip irrigated treatments, water was applied at 1.0ETc, 0.8ETc and 0.6ETc at 3-day intervals with 4.0 l h\u003csup\u003e\u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;1\u003c/sup\u003e discharge rate. In the case of surface irrigation, water was scheduled when CPE exceeded 25 mm. The depth-averaged soil-water content in the active root zone (400 m) between field capacity and the permanent wilting point is the potential plant available water (PPAW). In the experimental soil, the PPAW value was 102 mm and the fraction of PPAW, stored in the root zone, under different treatments was calculated (Bell et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR2\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2020\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv id=\"Sec8\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003e2.6. \u003cem\u003eWater balance and water use efficiency\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe irrigation water amount (V, m\u003csup\u003e3\u003c/sup\u003e) for an area (A, m\u003csup\u003e2\u003c/sup\u003e) was calculated after Kumar and Dey (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR14\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2011\u003c/span\u003e):\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eV =\u0026sum; (ETc \u0026times; N \u0026times; A) (3)\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003ewhere N is the number of days between two irrigations. The reference evapotranspiration (ETo, mm) was computed by multiplying pan evaporation (Epan, mm) with pan coefficient (Kp), where 0.85 was considered as the Kp (Allen et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR1\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e1998\u003c/span\u003e). Actual evapotranspiration (ETc, mm) was computed as:\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eETc\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;ETpan \u0026times; Kp \u0026times; Kc\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;ETo \u0026times; Kc (4)\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eKc values were taken from Allen et al. (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR1\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e1998\u003c/span\u003e) as 0.40, 0.85 and 0.75 for the establishment or initial phase, development or mid phase and maturity or end season, respectively.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eETc of strawberry was retrieved from the typical water balance equation for the entire growing season (Biswas et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR4\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2021\u003c/span\u003e):\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eETc\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;P\u0026thinsp;+\u0026thinsp;I\u0026thinsp;+\u0026thinsp;C \u0026ndash; R \u0026ndash; D - ΔS (5)\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003ewhere P is the effective precipitation and it is assumed nil under greenhouse, I is the irrigation water applied (mm). C is capillary rise from the ground water table and was assumed nil because the ground water table is deep (\u0026gt;\u0026thinsp;2.5m). R is the surface runoff and was also assumed zero as no water moved horizontally below the surface. Drainage (D, mm) from the root zone was measured as:\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eD = \u003cspan class=\"InlineEquation\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"mathinline\"\u003e\\({\\int }_{{t}_{1}}^{{t}_{2}}Vz\\partial t\\)\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e (6)\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eWhere, Vz is soil water flux (mm d\u003csup\u003e\u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;1\u003c/sup\u003e) at 400 mm depth at a 24 h time interval (between t\u003csub\u003e1\u003c/sub\u003e and t\u003csub\u003e2\u003c/sub\u003e), and was determined using Darcy\u0026rsquo;s equation:\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eVz = \u003cspan class=\"InlineEquation\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"mathinline\"\u003e\\(-k\\left(\\stackrel{-}{\\theta }\\right)\\left(\\frac{\\varPsi {m}_{2}-{\\psi }_{{m}_{1}}}{{z}_{2}-{z}_{1}}+1\\right)\\)\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e (7)\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003ewhere hydraulic conductivity, k(\u003cspan class=\"InlineEquation\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"mathinline\"\u003e\\(\\stackrel{-}{{\\theta }}\\)\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e) was measured through a modified instantaneous field profile method regarding average soil water between depths Z\u003csub\u003e1\u003c/sub\u003e (450 mm) and Z\u003csub\u003e2\u003c/sub\u003e (350 mm) (Biswas et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR4\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2021\u003c/span\u003e); and are at the matric potential (determined through tensiometer reading) at depths Z\u003csub\u003e2\u003c/sub\u003e and Z\u003csub\u003e1\u003c/sub\u003e, respectively.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe change in soil profile water (ΔS) in the 0-400 mm depth was computed as:\u003cdiv id=\"Equ1\" class=\"Equation\"\u003e\u003cdiv format=\"TEX\" class=\"mathdisplay\" id=\"FileID_Equ1\" name=\"EquationSource\"\u003e\n$$\\varDelta S={\\int }_{0}^{z}{\\int }_{t1}^{t2}\\frac{\\partial \\theta }{\\partial t}\\delta z\\delta t$$\u003c/div\u003e\u003cdiv class=\"EquationNumber\"\u003e8\u003c/div\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003ewhere, θ is soil water content (mm) at depth z, measured between two irrigation dates t\u003csub\u003e1\u003c/sub\u003e and t\u003csub\u003e2\u003c/sub\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eWater use efficiency (WUE), expressed in kg m\u003csup\u003e\u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;3\u003c/sup\u003e, was computed following (Zheng et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR29\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2013\u003c/span\u003e):\u003cdiv id=\"Equ2\" class=\"Equation\"\u003e\u003cdiv format=\"TEX\" class=\"mathdisplay\" id=\"FileID_Equ2\" name=\"EquationSource\"\u003e\n$$\\text{W}\\text{U}\\text{E}=\\frac{\\text{Y}}{\\text{E}\\text{T}\\text{c}}$$\u003c/div\u003e\u003cdiv class=\"EquationNumber\"\u003e9\u003c/div\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003ewhere, Y is the fruit yield (kg ha\u003csup\u003e\u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;1\u003c/sup\u003e). Fruits were harvested when mature and there were 13 pickings in the first year and 11 in the second year at 2\u0026ndash;7-day intervals. Data were collected from inner ten tagged plants from each plot for recording yield plant\u003csup\u003e\u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;1\u003c/sup\u003e (g).\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv id=\"Sec9\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003e2.7 \u003cem\u003eStatistical analyses\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eAll the data, except the soil moisture distribution after irrigation, were analyzed by three-way ANOVA (year, irrigation regime, and mulching regime). Tukey multiple range test was performed for separation of treatment means at 5% level of significance. Statistical software JMP version Pro v16.0 (JMP \u003cspan citationid=\"CR9\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2012\u003c/span\u003e) and MS Excel 2021 were used. The statistical measurements of the coefficient of determination (R\u003csup\u003e2\u003c/sup\u003e) of the best-fit polynomial equations were determined to indicate the degree of association between two variables, and the explainable percentage of variation.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e"},{"header":"3. Results","content":"\u003cp\u003eThree-way ANOVA revealed that the main effect of year, the first order interaction effects between year and irrigation regime and year and mulching regime, and the second order interactions among year, irrigation regime and mulch regime were not varied significantly (Table\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Tab4\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e4\u003c/span\u003e). Hence, results and discussion on above effects were avoided by concentrating only on three year means and on significant effects.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"gridtable\"\u003e\u003ctable float=\"Yes\" id=\"Tab4\" border=\"1\"\u003e \u003ccaption language=\"En\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"CaptionNumber\"\u003eTable 4\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"CaptionContent\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eResults of the analysis of variance (three-way ANOVA with interaction)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003c/caption\u003e \u003ccolgroup cols=\"34\"\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c1\" colnum=\"1\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c2\" colnum=\"2\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c3\" colnum=\"3\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c4\" colnum=\"4\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c5\" colnum=\"5\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c6\" colnum=\"6\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c7\" colnum=\"7\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c8\" colnum=\"8\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c9\" colnum=\"9\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c10\" colnum=\"10\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c11\" colnum=\"11\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c12\" colnum=\"12\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c13\" colnum=\"13\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c14\" colnum=\"14\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c15\" colnum=\"15\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c16\" colnum=\"16\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c17\" colnum=\"17\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c18\" colnum=\"18\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c19\" colnum=\"19\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c20\" colnum=\"20\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c21\" colnum=\"21\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c22\" colnum=\"22\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c23\" colnum=\"23\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c24\" colnum=\"24\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c25\" colnum=\"25\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c26\" colnum=\"26\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c27\" colnum=\"27\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c28\" colnum=\"28\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c29\" colnum=\"29\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c30\" colnum=\"30\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c31\" colnum=\"31\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c32\" colnum=\"32\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c33\" colnum=\"33\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c34\" colnum=\"34\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cthead\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eSources of variation\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eRLD\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eΔS\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c5\" namest=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eDrainage\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colspan=\"8\" nameend=\"c13\" namest=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eETc\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c15\" namest=\"c14\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eYield\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colspan=\"3\" nameend=\"c18\" namest=\"c16\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eWUE\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colspan=\"9\" nameend=\"c27\" namest=\"c19\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eLeaf area index (DAP)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colspan=\"7\" nameend=\"c34\" namest=\"c28\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ePPAW (%) (DAP)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/thead\u003e \u003ctbody\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c5\" namest=\"c4\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c7\" namest=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eEstab\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c9\" namest=\"c8\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eDev\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c11\" namest=\"c10\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eMat\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c13\" namest=\"c12\"\u003e \u003cp\u003etotal\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c15\" namest=\"c14\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"3\" nameend=\"c18\" namest=\"c16\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c20\" namest=\"c19\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e15\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c22\" namest=\"c21\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e45\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c23\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e75\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c25\" namest=\"c24\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e105\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c27\" namest=\"c26\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e135\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c29\" namest=\"c28\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e21\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c31\" namest=\"c30\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e49\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c33\" namest=\"c32\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e112\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c34\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e140\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eYear\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ens\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eNs\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c5\" namest=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ens\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c7\" namest=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ens\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c9\" namest=\"c8\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ens\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c11\" namest=\"c10\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ens\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c13\" namest=\"c12\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ens\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c15\" namest=\"c14\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ens\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"3\" nameend=\"c18\" namest=\"c16\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eNs\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c20\" namest=\"c19\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ens\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c22\" namest=\"c21\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ens\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c23\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ens\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c25\" namest=\"c24\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ens\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c27\" namest=\"c26\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ens\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c29\" namest=\"c28\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ens\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c31\" namest=\"c30\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ens\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c33\" namest=\"c32\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ens\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c34\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ens\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eIrrigation regime\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e**\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e**\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c5\" namest=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e**\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c7\" namest=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e**\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c9\" namest=\"c8\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e**\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c11\" namest=\"c10\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e**\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c13\" namest=\"c12\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e**\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c15\" namest=\"c14\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e***\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"3\" nameend=\"c18\" namest=\"c16\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e**\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c20\" namest=\"c19\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ens\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c22\" namest=\"c21\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e**\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c23\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e**\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c25\" namest=\"c24\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e**\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c27\" namest=\"c26\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e**\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c29\" namest=\"c28\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e***\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c31\" namest=\"c30\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e**\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c33\" namest=\"c32\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e***\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c34\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e***\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eMulch\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e*\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e*\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c5\" namest=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e*\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c7\" namest=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e*\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c9\" namest=\"c8\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e*\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c11\" namest=\"c10\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e*\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c13\" namest=\"c12\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e*\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c15\" namest=\"c14\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e*\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"3\" nameend=\"c18\" namest=\"c16\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e*\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c20\" namest=\"c19\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ens\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c22\" namest=\"c21\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e*\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c23\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e*\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c25\" namest=\"c24\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e*\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c27\" namest=\"c26\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e*\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c29\" namest=\"c28\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ens\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c31\" namest=\"c30\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e*\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c33\" namest=\"c32\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e*\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c34\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e*\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eYear*Irrigation regime\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ens\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eNs\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c5\" namest=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ens\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c7\" namest=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ens\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c9\" namest=\"c8\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ens\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c11\" namest=\"c10\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ens\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c13\" namest=\"c12\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ens\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c15\" namest=\"c14\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ens\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"3\" nameend=\"c18\" namest=\"c16\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eNs\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c20\" namest=\"c19\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ens\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c22\" namest=\"c21\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ens\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c23\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ens\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c25\" namest=\"c24\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ens\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c27\" namest=\"c26\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ens\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c29\" namest=\"c28\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ens\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c31\" namest=\"c30\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ens\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c33\" namest=\"c32\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ens\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c34\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ens\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eYear*mulch\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ens\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eNs\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c5\" namest=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ens\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c7\" namest=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ens\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c9\" namest=\"c8\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ens\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c11\" namest=\"c10\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ens\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c13\" namest=\"c12\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ens\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c15\" namest=\"c14\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ens\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"3\" nameend=\"c18\" namest=\"c16\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eNs\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c20\" namest=\"c19\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ens\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c22\" namest=\"c21\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ens\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c23\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ens\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c25\" namest=\"c24\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ens\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c27\" namest=\"c26\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ens\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c29\" namest=\"c28\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ens\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c31\" namest=\"c30\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ens\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c33\" namest=\"c32\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ens\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c34\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ens\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eIrrigation regime * mulch\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e***\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e**\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c5\" namest=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e**\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c7\" namest=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e**\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c9\" namest=\"c8\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e**\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c11\" namest=\"c10\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e**\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c13\" namest=\"c12\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e**\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c15\" namest=\"c14\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e*\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"3\" nameend=\"c18\" namest=\"c16\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e*\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c20\" namest=\"c19\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ens\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c22\" namest=\"c21\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e**\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c23\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e**\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c25\" namest=\"c24\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e**\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c27\" namest=\"c26\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e**\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c29\" namest=\"c28\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ens\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c31\" namest=\"c30\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e*\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c33\" namest=\"c32\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e**\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c34\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e*\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eYear * Irrigation regime * mulch\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ens\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eNs\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c5\" namest=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ens\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c7\" namest=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ens\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c9\" namest=\"c8\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ens\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c11\" namest=\"c10\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ens\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c13\" namest=\"c12\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ens\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c15\" namest=\"c14\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ens\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"3\" nameend=\"c18\" namest=\"c16\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eNs\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c20\" namest=\"c19\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ens\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c22\" namest=\"c21\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ens\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c23\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ens\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c25\" namest=\"c24\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ens\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c27\" namest=\"c26\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ens\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c29\" namest=\"c28\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ens\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c31\" namest=\"c30\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ens\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c33\" namest=\"c32\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ens\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c34\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ens\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c2\" namest=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eSources of variation\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"32\" nameend=\"c34\" namest=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eRoot zone soil water storage (DAP)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c2\" namest=\"c1\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e21\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e28\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e35\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e42\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c8\" namest=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e49\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c10\" namest=\"c9\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e56\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c12\" namest=\"c11\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e63\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c14\" namest=\"c13\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e70\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c16\" namest=\"c15\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e77\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c17\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e84\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c19\" namest=\"c18\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e91\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c21\" namest=\"c20\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e98\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"3\" nameend=\"c24\" namest=\"c22\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e105\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c26\" namest=\"c25\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e112\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c28\" namest=\"c27\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e119\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c30\" namest=\"c29\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e126\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c32\" namest=\"c31\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e133\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c34\" namest=\"c33\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e140\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c2\" namest=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eYear\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ens\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ens\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ens\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ens\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c8\" namest=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ens\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c10\" namest=\"c9\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ens\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c12\" namest=\"c11\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ens\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c14\" namest=\"c13\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ens\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c16\" namest=\"c15\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ens\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c17\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eNs\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c19\" namest=\"c18\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ens\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c21\" namest=\"c20\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ens\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"3\" nameend=\"c24\" namest=\"c22\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ens\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c26\" namest=\"c25\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ens\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c28\" namest=\"c27\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ens\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c30\" namest=\"c29\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ens\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c32\" namest=\"c31\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ens\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c34\" namest=\"c33\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ens\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c2\" namest=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eIrrigation regime\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e***\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e**\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e***\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e***\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c8\" namest=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e***\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c10\" namest=\"c9\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e***\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c12\" namest=\"c11\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e***\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c14\" namest=\"c13\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e***\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c16\" namest=\"c15\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e***\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c17\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e***\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c19\" namest=\"c18\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e***\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c21\" namest=\"c20\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e***\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"3\" nameend=\"c24\" namest=\"c22\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e**\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c26\" namest=\"c25\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e***\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c28\" namest=\"c27\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e***\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c30\" namest=\"c29\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e***\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c32\" namest=\"c31\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e***\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c34\" namest=\"c33\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e***\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c2\" namest=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eMulch\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e*\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e*\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e*\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e*\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c8\" namest=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e*\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c10\" namest=\"c9\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e*\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c12\" namest=\"c11\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e*\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c14\" namest=\"c13\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e*\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c16\" namest=\"c15\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e*\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c17\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e*\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c19\" namest=\"c18\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e*\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c21\" namest=\"c20\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e*\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"3\" nameend=\"c24\" namest=\"c22\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e*\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c26\" namest=\"c25\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e*\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c28\" namest=\"c27\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e*\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c30\" namest=\"c29\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e*\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c32\" namest=\"c31\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e*\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c34\" namest=\"c33\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e*\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c2\" namest=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eYear*Irrigation regime\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ens\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ens\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ens\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ens\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c8\" namest=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ens\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c10\" namest=\"c9\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ens\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c12\" namest=\"c11\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ens\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c14\" namest=\"c13\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ens\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c16\" namest=\"c15\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ens\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c17\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eNs\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c19\" namest=\"c18\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ens\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c21\" namest=\"c20\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ens\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"3\" nameend=\"c24\" namest=\"c22\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ens\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c26\" namest=\"c25\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ens\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c28\" namest=\"c27\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ens\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c30\" namest=\"c29\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ens\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c32\" namest=\"c31\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ens\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c34\" namest=\"c33\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ens\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c2\" namest=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eYear*mulch\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ens\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ens\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ens\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ens\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c8\" namest=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ens\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c10\" namest=\"c9\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ens\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c12\" namest=\"c11\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ens\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c14\" namest=\"c13\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ens\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c16\" namest=\"c15\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ens\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c17\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eNs\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c19\" namest=\"c18\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ens\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c21\" namest=\"c20\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ens\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"3\" nameend=\"c24\" namest=\"c22\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ens\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c26\" namest=\"c25\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ens\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c28\" namest=\"c27\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ens\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c30\" namest=\"c29\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ens\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c32\" namest=\"c31\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ens\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c34\" namest=\"c33\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ens\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c2\" namest=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eIrrigation regime * mulch\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e**\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e**\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e**\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e**\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c8\" namest=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e**\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c10\" namest=\"c9\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e**\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c12\" namest=\"c11\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e**\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c14\" namest=\"c13\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e**\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c16\" namest=\"c15\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e**\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c17\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e**\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c19\" namest=\"c18\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e**\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c21\" namest=\"c20\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e**\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"3\" nameend=\"c24\" namest=\"c22\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e*\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c26\" namest=\"c25\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e**\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c28\" namest=\"c27\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e**\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c30\" namest=\"c29\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e**\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c32\" namest=\"c31\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e**\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c34\" namest=\"c33\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e**\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c2\" namest=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eYear * Irrigation regime * mulch\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ens\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ens\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ens\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ens\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c8\" namest=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ens\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c10\" namest=\"c9\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ens\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c12\" namest=\"c11\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ens\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c14\" namest=\"c13\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ens\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c16\" namest=\"c15\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ens\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c17\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eNs\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c19\" namest=\"c18\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ens\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c21\" namest=\"c20\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ens\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"3\" nameend=\"c24\" namest=\"c22\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ens\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c26\" namest=\"c25\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ens\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c28\" namest=\"c27\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ens\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c30\" namest=\"c29\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ens\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c32\" namest=\"c31\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ens\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c34\" namest=\"c33\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ens\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/tbody\u003e \u003c/colgroup\u003e \u003ctfoot\u003e \u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd colspan=\"34\"\u003e* p\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;0.05, ** p\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;0.01, *** p\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;0.001, ns - nonsignificant\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd colspan=\"34\"\u003eRLD-root length density, ΔS- change in soil water storage, ETc- Actual evapotranspiration, Estab. \u0026ndash; establishment phase, Dev. \u0026ndash; devotement phase, Mat. \u0026ndash; maturity phase, WUE \u0026ndash; water use efficiency, DAP \u0026ndash; days after planting\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/tfoot\u003e \u003c/table\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003cdiv id=\"Sec11\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003e3.1. Leaf growth and leaf area index\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe temporal changes of LAI measured at monthly interval from 15 DAP to 135 DAP during 2015-16. 2016-17 and 2017-18 were affected by irrigation and mulching regimes (Fig.\u0026nbsp;1, Table\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Tab4\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e4\u003c/span\u003e). Average LAI was higher in drip irrigation ranging from 6.32 in 0.6ETc to 7.81 in 1.0ETc as compared to SI (5.89) and 0.8ETc (7.56). The LAI of strawberry was 57, 48, and 22% higher with the use of JM, BM and SM, as compared to NM. The average LAI in 1.0ETcJM and 0.8ETcJM was about two times higher than that in SINM or SISM. LAI followed a cubic relation with age, i.e., days after planting (DAP) in strawberry as expressed in the equation below.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eLAI\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0.3484\u0026ndash;0.01492 \u0026times; (DAP)\u0026thinsp;+\u0026thinsp;0.002764 \u0026times; (DAP)\u003csup\u003e2\u003c/sup\u003e \u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;1.55 e \u003csup\u003e-5\u003c/sup\u003e \u0026times; (DAP)\u003csup\u003e3\u003c/sup\u003e (10)\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eWhere, R\u003csup\u003e2\u003c/sup\u003e\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0.793; n\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;720 and P\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;0.0001.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv id=\"Sec12\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003e3.2. Root growth\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe highest RLD was recorded at harvest in 0.8ETc, whereas the least RLD was recorded in SI among the irrigation treatments pooled over the years (Table\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Tab5\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e5\u003c/span\u003e). Mulch use influenced root growth also. RLD was the highest in JM followed by SM. The lowest RLD was observed in NM. RLD of 0.8ETcBM was the highest followed by 0.8ETcJM. RLD of 0.8ETcJM were 2.2 and 3.4 times higher than that of SISM and SINM.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"gridtable\"\u003e\u003ctable float=\"Yes\" id=\"Tab5\" border=\"1\"\u003e \u003ccaption language=\"En\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"CaptionNumber\"\u003eTable 5\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"CaptionContent\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eEffect of irrigation and mulch regimes on root length density (\u0026times;10\u003csup\u003e3\u003c/sup\u003e, m m\u003csup\u003e\u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;3\u003c/sup\u003e) of strawberry at harvest (data are averages for three years).\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003c/caption\u003e \u003ccolgroup cols=\"6\"\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c1\" colnum=\"1\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c2\" colnum=\"2\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c3\" colnum=\"3\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c4\" colnum=\"4\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c5\" colnum=\"5\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c6\" colnum=\"6\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cthead\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\" morerows=\"1\" rowspan=\"2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eIrrigation regime\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colspan=\"4\" nameend=\"c5\" namest=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eMulch regime\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\" morerows=\"1\" rowspan=\"2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eMean\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eJM\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eBM\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eSM\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eNM\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/thead\u003e \u003ctbody\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.6ETc\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e6.59\u003csup\u003ed\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e7.36\u003csup\u003eb\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e6.69\u003csup\u003ecd\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e5.48\u003csup\u003ef\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e6.53\u003csup\u003eγ\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.8ETc\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e7.15\u003csup\u003eb\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e7.95\u003csup\u003ea\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e7.34\u003csup\u003eb\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e5.98\u003csup\u003ee\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e7.10\u003csup\u003eδ\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1.0ETc\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e5.70\u003csup\u003eef\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e6.98\u003csup\u003ebc\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e6.04\u003csup\u003ee\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e4.83\u003csup\u003eg\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e5.89\u003csup\u003eβ\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eSI\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e2.90\u003csup\u003ej\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e4.10\u003csup\u003eh\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e3.19\u003csup\u003ei\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e2.13\u003csup\u003ek\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e3.08\u003csup\u003eα\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eMean\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e5.58\u003csup\u003eB\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e6.60\u003csup\u003eD\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e5.82\u003csup\u003eC\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e4.61\u003csup\u003eA\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/tbody\u003e \u003c/colgroup\u003e \u003ctfoot\u003e \u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd colspan=\"6\"\u003eMeans followed by different letters (Tukey ranking) differ significantly at 5% level of significance.\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd colspan=\"6\"\u003eSI: Surface irrigation; 1.0ETc, 0.8ETc and 0.6ETc are drip irrigation regimes to compensate 100%, 80% and 60% of actual crop evapotranspiration loss from the field respectively.\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd colspan=\"6\"\u003eBM - biodegradable plastic film, JM - Nonwoven jute agrotextile mulch, SM - Rice straw mulch and NM \u0026ndash; No mulch.\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/tfoot\u003e \u003c/table\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv id=\"Sec13\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003e3.3. \u003cem\u003eSoil water redistribution after irrigation in the root zone\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe water content in the soil profiles under each irrigation treatment during 2015-16 is shown in Fig.\u0026nbsp;2a and 2b. Total soil water at the root zone within 72 hours of irrigation was 25 and 22% higher in 1.0ETc and 0.8ETc, respectively over SI during peak fruit harvest week. Soil water content in the soil surface was around 50% lower in drip irrigation than that in conventional surface irrigation. Water retention at 200\u0026ndash;300 mm sub soil was the highest in 0.8-1.0 ETc followed by 0.6ETc and it was the lowest in SI. Redistributed soil water was around 10% higher in drip irrigation than surface irrigation within 72 hours of irrigation in the active root zone of 101\u0026ndash;300 mm. Topsoil (0-100 mm) remained moist in SI (39% of total soil water) that favoured more evaporation than drip irrigation treatments. Average soil water retention at root zone within 72 hours of irrigation was the highest in 1.0ETcBM followed 1.0ETcJM followed by 0.8ETcBM and 0.8ETcJM.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv id=\"Sec14\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003e3.4. Total soil water content at the root zone\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eDrip irrigation maintained stable soil water as obversed in the average data of all three years throughout the crop growth period. Root zone soil water was higher in 0.8ETc and 1.0ETc irrigation regimes than that in 0.6ETc and SI (Fig.\u0026nbsp;3). Soil water content among the mulch treatment was in the order of JM\u0026thinsp;\u0026gt;\u0026thinsp;BM\u0026thinsp;\u0026gt;\u0026thinsp;SM\u0026thinsp;\u0026gt;\u0026thinsp;NM.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eSoil water at the root zone was 60% higher with drip irrigation at 0.8ETc and 1.0ETc than conventional SI during the entire crop growth stage (Fig.\u0026nbsp;3). The use of mulch in strawberry also effectively conserved soil water, with JM being the most effective and SM the least effective. Total soil water storing capacity was highest at 0.8ETcJM followed by 1.0ETcJM or 1.0ETcBM or 0.8ETcBM. Total water storage was three and two times higher in 0.8ETcJM than SINM and SISM, respectively. Average field plant available water (PAW) exceeded or equaled 50% PPAW (102 mm) under drip irrigation for the entire crop growth period. But in SI, PAW decreased from the early development stage with acute water shortage (38% PPAW) observed during maturity (Fig.\u0026nbsp;4). The highest average plant available water was recorded with 1.0ETcJM (82% PPAW) followed by 1.0ETcBM (76% PPAW) and 0.8ETcJM (75% PPAW). The lowest average available water was with 0.6ETcNM (42%) and SINM (38%).\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv id=\"Sec15\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003e3.5. Actual evapotranspiration\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eIrrigation and mulching regimes had significant effects on the means of evapotranspiration of strawberry (Table\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Tab6\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e6\u003c/span\u003e). Seasonal ET ranged from 101 to 228 mm based on irrigation treatment and seasonal conditions. Seasonal ET was 19, 33, and 49% higher in treatments that received surface irrigation at IW/CPE\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;1 than the treatments that received irrigation at 1.0ETC, 0.8ETc, and 0.6ETc through drip irrigation, respectively (Table\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Tab6\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e6\u003c/span\u003e). Seasonal ET was 12\u0026ndash;14% higher in mulched plots over un-mulched bare soil. It was higher during the development phase (31\u0026ndash;110 DAP) than the establishment or maturity stage (Fig.\u0026nbsp;5). The highest ET was estimated at SINM and the lowest ET was estimated in at 0.6ETc irrespective of mulch treatments. Since uniform irrigation was given up to 15 DAP and irrigation treatment started from 15 DAP only, crop ET did not differ among the irrigation regimes during the establishment phase (0\u0026ndash;30 DAP).\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"gridtable\"\u003e\u003ctable float=\"Yes\" id=\"Tab6\" border=\"1\"\u003e \u003ccaption language=\"En\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"CaptionNumber\"\u003eTable 6\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"CaptionContent\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eInfluence of irrigation and mulch regimes on components of soil water balance, yield and water use efficiency of strawberry (data are averages for three years).\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003c/caption\u003e \u003ccolgroup cols=\"7\"\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c1\" colnum=\"1\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c2\" colnum=\"2\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c3\" colnum=\"3\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c4\" colnum=\"4\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c5\" colnum=\"5\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c6\" colnum=\"6\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c7\" colnum=\"7\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cthead\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eTreatment\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eIrrigation applied\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e(mm)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eChanges in soil water storage* (mm)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eDrainage\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e(mm)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eEvapo-transpiration\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e(crop)\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e(mm)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eYield (Mg ha\u003csup\u003e\u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;1\u003c/sup\u003e)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eWater use efficiency (kg m\u003csup\u003e\u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;3\u003c/sup\u003e)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/thead\u003e \u003ctbody\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cspan type=\"Underline\" class=\"Underline\" name=\"Emphasis\"\u003eIrrigation regime\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.6ETc\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e106.2\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e2.9\u003csup\u003eα\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1.2\u003csup\u003eα\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e107.9\u003csup\u003eα\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e12.4\u003csup\u003eγ\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e12.2 \u003csup\u003eβ\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.8ETc\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e133.3\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e5.6\u003csup\u003eβ\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e2.9\u003csup\u003eα\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e136.0\u003csup\u003eβ\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e25.5\u003csup\u003eα\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e19.1\u003csup\u003eδ\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1.0ETc\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e160.4\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e13.0\u003csup\u003eγ\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e4.7\u003csup\u003eα\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e168.7\u003csup\u003eγ\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e25.6 \u003csup\u003eα\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e15.8\u003csup\u003eγ\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eSI\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e233.1\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e74.4\u003csup\u003eδ\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e60.2\u003csup\u003eβ\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e247.3\u003csup\u003eδ\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e14.4 \u003csup\u003eβ\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e7.2 \u003csup\u003eα\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cspan type=\"Underline\" class=\"Underline\" name=\"Emphasis\"\u003eMulch regime\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eBM\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e158.3\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e6.6\u003csup\u003eA\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e3.2\u003csup\u003eA\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e161.7\u003csup\u003eB\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e21.2\u003csup\u003eB\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e14.3 \u003csup\u003eB\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eJM\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e158.3\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e9.8\u003csup\u003eB\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e3.9\u003csup\u003eA\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e164.1\u003csup\u003eB\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e23.7\u003csup\u003eA\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e16.4 \u003csup\u003eC\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eSM\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e158.3\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e36.2\u003csup\u003eC\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e6.5\u003csup\u003eB\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e188.0\u003csup\u003eC\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e17.7\u003csup\u003eC\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e11.8 \u003csup\u003eA\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eNM\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e 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colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.6 ETc BM\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e106.2\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.8\u003csup\u003ek\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.2\u003csup\u003ei\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e106.8\u003csup\u003eg\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e 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colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.6ETc NM\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e106.2\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e5.3\u003csup\u003eh\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e4.0\u003csup\u003eg\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e107.6\u003csup\u003eg\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e9.7\u003csup\u003ek\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e9.4\u003csup\u003ej\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.8ETc BM\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e133.3\u003c/p\u003e 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align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.7\u003csup\u003ei\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e134.9\u003csup\u003ef\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e31.1\u003csup\u003ea\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e23.1\u003csup\u003ea\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.8ETc SM\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e133.3\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e8.5\u003csup\u003eg\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1.1\u003csup\u003eh\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e140.7\u003csup\u003ef\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e23.2\u003csup\u003ec\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e16.6\u003csup\u003ed\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.8ETc NM\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e133.3\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e10.2\u003csup\u003ef\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e9.4\u003csup\u003ef\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e134.1\u003csup\u003ef\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e 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colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1.0ETc SM\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e160.4\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e19.7\u003csup\u003ee\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1.8\u003csup\u003eh\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e178.2\u003csup\u003ed\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e23.3\u003csup\u003ec\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e13.7\u003csup\u003ef\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1.0ETc NM\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e160.4\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e23.6\u003csup\u003ed\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e15.2\u003csup\u003ec\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e168.7\u003csup\u003ee\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e20.0\u003csup\u003ed\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e12.2\u003csup\u003eh\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eSIBM\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e233.1\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e20.5\u003csup\u003ee\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e11.0\u003csup\u003ee\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e242.5\u003csup\u003ec\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e15.7\u003csup\u003ef\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e7.6\u003csup\u003el\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eSIJM\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e233.1\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e30.4\u003csup\u003ec\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e13.7\u003csup\u003ed\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e249.8\u003csup\u003eb\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e17.6\u003csup\u003ee\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e8.7\u003csup\u003ek\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eSISM\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e233.1\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e112.2\u003csup\u003eb\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e22.7\u003csup\u003eb\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e174.3\u003csup\u003ed\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e13.5\u003csup\u003eh\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e12.9\u003csup\u003eg\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eSINM\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e233.1\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e134.5\u003csup\u003ea\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e193.3\u003csup\u003ea\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e322.7\u003csup\u003ea\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e13.1\u003csup\u003ei\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e6.3\u003csup\u003em\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/tbody\u003e \u003c/colgroup\u003e \u003ctfoot\u003e \u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd colspan=\"7\"\u003eMeans followed by different letters (Tukey ranking) differ significantly at 5% level of significance.\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd colspan=\"7\"\u003e* Change of soil water storage between planting date and last harvesting date of strawberry;\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd colspan=\"7\"\u003eSI: Surface irrigation, 1.0ETc, 0.8ETc and 0.6ETc are drip irrigation regimes to compensate 100%, 80% and 60% of actual crop evapotranspiration loss from the field respectively.\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd colspan=\"7\"\u003eBM - biodegradable plastic film, JM - nonwoven jute agrotextile mulch, SM - rice straw mulch and NM \u0026ndash; no mulch.\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/tfoot\u003e \u003c/table\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv id=\"Sec16\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003e3.6 Yield and water use efficiency\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eIrrigation and mulch regimes influenced the strawberry yield. Irrigation through drip with 0.8-1.0ETc resulted in the highest and with 0.6ETc recorded the lowest yield (Table\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Tab6\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e6\u003c/span\u003e). Efficacy of mulches in terms of strawberry productivity was in the order of JM\u0026thinsp;\u0026gt;\u0026thinsp;BM\u0026thinsp;\u0026gt;\u0026thinsp;SM\u0026thinsp;\u0026gt;\u0026thinsp;NM. Among the treatment combinations, the highest yield was with 0.8ETcJM and lowest yield was with 0.6ETcNM. Among the mulches, water use efficiency was highest in JM followed by BM. The highest WUE was recorded with 0.8ETcJM and lowest with SIJM, SINM and SISM (Table\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Tab6\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e6\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e"},{"header":"4. Discussion","content":"\u003cp\u003eThis study showed that optimum irrigation and suitable mulching provided congenial environment in augmenting the root and shoot growth and development of strawberry compared to un-mulched surface irrigation. Drip irrigation and mulching hindered weed growth keeping upper soil surface dry and favorably modified soil hydrothermal regime in the rhizosphere. Kirby and Bengough (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR12\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2002\u003c/span\u003e) reported that moist root zone reduced soil strength and favoured better root penetration in pea (Avena sativa) plants. Similar reports of greater root growth and distribution in the soil profile with drip irrigation and mulching were also observed in cotton (Wang et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR26\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2020\u003c/span\u003e) and maize (El-Hendawy et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR7\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2008\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eA stable soil water was maintained at the active root zone (0-400 mm) throughout the strawberry growth under drip irrigation. More than 90% of the strawberry roots were located within the top 40 cm soil, as also reported by L\u0026eacute;tourneau et al. (2015). Soil water at the root zone after irrigation was 25 and 22% higher in 1.0ETc and 0.8ETc, respectively over SI (Fig.\u0026nbsp;3). Topsoil (0-100 mm) remained moist in SI (39% of total soil water), which favoured evaporation and weed growth (Supplementary Fig.\u0026nbsp;1). Seasonal ET decreased by 19\u0026ndash;49% in irrigation at 0.6-1.0ETc as compared to SI. This was due to the decreased volume of irrigation at 0.6 and 0.8 ETc and lower evaporation under the drip irrigation. Seasonal ET was 12\u0026ndash;14% higher in mulched plots over un-mulched bare soil due to better root growth, resulting in higher water uptake to meet the crop transpiration demand. Optimum ET in drip irrigated strawberry grown inside a plastic greenhouse using polythene mulch at 1.1 pan factor has also been reported elsewhere (Yuan et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR28\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2004\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eIrrigation regimes and the use of mulches impacted the strawberry yield and water use efficiency separately or in combination. Drip irrigation at 0.8ETc alone resulted in 0.8 times higher berry productivity than the SINM did, or use of JM alone produced 0.9 times higher yield than that by SINM. However, synergy between irrigation through drip and use of jute mulch was observed with 1.4 times higher yield in 0.8ETcJM than conventional SINM. Superiority of strawberry productivity and water use efficiency in 0.8ETcJM over other treatments might be due to appropriate irrigation input, better aeration in root zone, better utilization of applied water, higher nutrient use, and better crop growth, as also observed in other studies (Kachwaya et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR10\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2016\u003c/span\u003e; Biswas et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR4\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2021\u003c/span\u003e). On the contrary, deficit irrigation can reduce transpiration and dry matter accumulation (Ghaderi and Siosemardeh \u003cspan citationid=\"CR8\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2011\u003c/span\u003e). Similar observation of higher strawberry yield in drip irrigation with 80% ETc was reported in a field experiment in North India (Singh et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR23\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2019\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003ePlastic mulch can further aggravate root and leaf senescence during the maturity stage due to terminal heat stress affecting crop yield and water use (Yin et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR27\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2019\u003c/span\u003e), along with adverse ecotoxicological impact on environment (Mu\u0026ntilde;oz et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR19\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2017\u003c/span\u003e; Conti et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR6\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2020\u003c/span\u003e; Li et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR17\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2020\u003c/span\u003e). Our study showed that use of jute mulch improved soil water dynamics and increased root and shoot growth and strawberry productivity. Our results are consistent with those of Manna et al. (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR18\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2018\u003c/span\u003e) and Sarkar et al. (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR20\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2018\u003c/span\u003e), who also reported that the use of jute mulch favours microbial growth and rooting behaviour and bioavailability of nutrients in crops like capsicum, pointed gourd, sweet lime, turmeric and broccoli. Overall, our results demonstrate that irrigation and mulching treatments changed strawberry yield and water use efficiency and that 0.8ETcJM treatment resulted in highest strawberry productivity and water use efficiency.\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"5. Conclusions","content":"\u003cp\u003eInformation on spatiotemporal soil water distribution at the root zone is important to optimize irrigation requirement for a water-sensitive crop like strawberry grown in the greenhouse for its proper growth, yield and water use efficiency. In our study, drip irrigation, to meet the evaporative demand of 80-100% and the use of jute agro textile mulch was found to be the best irrigation option. Such optimized irrigation and mulch regime provided the congenial environment in augmenting the leaf area and root growth and development with highest RLD, LAI compared to surface irrigation and other drip irrigation regimes. Total water storage was three and two times higher in 0.8ETc JM than SINM and SISM, respectively. It maintained three times higher soil water in the active root zone resulting in three- and four-times higher yield and water use efficiency, respectively than surface irrigated unmulched strawberry. We suggest that such findings be incorporated into packages and practices of strawberry cultivation in the moist tropical sub-humid region of Bengal basin and other similar agroecological regions of South Asia.\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"Declarations","content":"\u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAuthors\u0026rsquo; contributions Benukar Biswas\u003c/strong\u003e: Data curation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Software, Validation, Visualization, Writing \u0026ndash; original draft, Writing \u0026ndash; review \u0026amp; editing, \u003cstrong\u003eJagadish Timsina:\u003c/strong\u003e Review \u0026amp; editing. \u003cstrong\u003eKrishna Gopal Mandal\u003c/strong\u003e: Review \u0026amp; editing. \u003cstrong\u003eAnandkumar Naorem\u003c/strong\u003e: Graphics\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003cstrong\u003eAcknowledgments\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;We thank ICAR-Indian Institute of Water Management, nodal cell of All India Co-ordinated Research Project of Irrigation Water Management and Government of West Bengal for fund and Directorate of Research, Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya (state agricultural university of West Bengal, India) for support.\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"References","content":"\u003col\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAllen RG, Pereira LS, Raes D, Smith M (1998) Crop evapotranspiration. 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Irrig Sci 31:995\u0026ndash;1008. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00271-012-0378-5\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ol\u003e"}],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":true,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":false,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":false,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"Drip irrigation, jute agro textile mulch, evapotranspiration, yield, water use efficiency, Leaf area index ","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-2766264/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-2766264/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003ch2\u003eOptimum water supply in the root zone with precision irrigation water management may play a key role in improving the productivity and sustainability of strawberry (\u003cem\u003eFragaria\u003c/em\u003e × \u003cem\u003eananassa\u003c/em\u003e) in moist tropical sub-humid environments. Accordingly, a greenhouse experiment was conducted from 2015-16 to 2017-18 on a \u003cem\u003eAeric Haplaquept\u003c/em\u003e to evaluate the effect of irrigation (surface irrigation at furrows at irrigation water : cumulative pan evaporation = 1, drip irrigation to meet 100, 80 and 60% of actual crop evapotranspiration demand ), and mulch (nonwoven jute agro textile, biodegradable plastic film, rice straw, and no mulch) regimes on strawberry. Average soil water storage in root zone (86mm) and fraction of potential plant available water (61%) was highest in jute agrotextile mulched and drip irrigated at 80% actual evapotranspiration. This combination of mulch and irrigation regime increased belowground (root length density, 7.15×10\u003csup\u003e3\u003c/sup\u003e m m\u003csup\u003e-3\u003c/sup\u003e) and above ground (leaf area index, 9.4) crop growth and emerged as the best option with three- and four-times higher yield (31.1 Mg ha\u003csup\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e-1\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/sup\u003e) and water use efficiency (23.1 kg m\u003csup\u003e-3\u003c/sup\u003e), respectively than surface irrigated unmulched strawberry. Results suggest that these findings be incorporated into packages and practices of strawberry cultivation in the moist tropical sub-humid region of Bengal basin and other similar agroecological regions of South Asia.\u003c/h2\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"Effects of different irrigation methods and mulching on yield, growth and water use efficiency of strawberry","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2023-04-05 14:26:26","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-2766264/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"0ca5ba8b-7270-4e31-a970-804f972e743b","owner":[],"postedDate":"April 5th, 2023","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"posted","subjectAreas":[],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2023-04-15T00:59:14+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2023-04-05 14:26:26","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-2766264","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-2766264","identity":"rs-2766264","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"7rjqhiLT3MXkJMwkYKINL","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}