Shading Reduces Water Deficit in Strawberry (Fragaria x ananassa Duch.) Plants during Vegetative Growth

Strawberry (Fragaria xananassa Duch.) is a commercially important crop with high water requirements, for which it is necessary to find strategies that mitigate the influence of water deficit on plant growth. This study was aimed to evaluate the effects of shading on the vegetative growth of strawberry cv. Sweet Ann under water deficit. The treatments consisted of the combination of two levels of shading (light intensity reduced on 47% vs. non-shaded plants) and two levels of water availability (water deficit vs. well-watered plants). The water deficit reduced the leaf water potential from -1.52 to -2.21 MPa, and diminished stomatal conductance, net photosynthetic rate (from 9.13 to 2.5 mol m-2 s-1), photosystem II photochemical efficiency (from 0.79 to 0.67), and biomass accumulation, while increased the electrolyte leakage. The shading allowed the water-deficient plants to maintain water potential (-1.58 MPa) and photosystem II efficiency (0.79) and to increase water use efficiency (from 14.80 to 86.90 mol CO2/mmol H2O), net photosynthetic rate (from 2.40 to 9.40 mol m-2 s-1) and biomass of leaves, crowns, and roots compared to non-shaded plants without water limitation. These results suggest that a reduction in incident light intensity attenuates the effects of stomatic and non-stomatic limitations caused by water deficit during vegetative growth of strawberry.