EFFECTS OF DRIP IRRIGATION AND POLYTHENE MULCH ON PRODUCTIVITY AND QUALITY OF STRAWBERRY (Fragaria ananassa)

A field trial was conducted under farmer's participatory research project at farmers' field in the Bhojpur district of Bihar on clay loam soil to improve strawberry (Fragaria ananassa) productivity and quality through drip irrigation and polythene mulch and to enhance water use efficiency through pressurized irrigation coupled with use of black polythene mulch along with surface irrigation. Drip irrigation with polythene mulch gave significantly highest yield (50.10 q ha-1) as compared to surface irrigation in an unmulched condition (40.15 q ha-1) however, the yield under paddy straw (45.90 q ha-1) and unmulched (42.07 q ha-1) was next in order to drip with polythene mulch but were significantly at par among themselves. When calculated the percentage increase the drip with polythene mulch gave 25 per cent higher yield than surface with unmulched condition. Similarly, the water use efficiency (WUE) was highest in drip irrigation with polythene mulch (7.7 kg ha-1 mm-1) as compared to surface irrigation (5.1 kg ha-1 mm-1). The fruit yield of strawberry under drip irrigation was found to be 46.07 q ha-1 compared to 40.15 q ha-1 under surface irrigation. Moreover, polythene mulch plus drip irrigation further raised the yields. Fruit weight increased significantly while other analyzed quality characteristics did not differ significantly among treatments. Drip irrigation besides giving a saving of 50-55% irrigation water resulted in 20-40% higher yield of crops studied.