Abstract
To determine how the cultivated strawberry Fragaria × ananassa responds to water-limited conditions we undertook experiments to investigate the relationship between yield potential, drought tolerance and water-use efficiency (WUE). Ten short-day cultivars were grown in containers in a polythene tunnel under two irrigation regimes - well watered (100% crop evapotranspiration) or water limited (66%). For each plant we measured traits associated with drought avoidance (root dry mass), reduced water use (shoot dry mass and leaf area) and water-use efficiency (fruit yield). For fruit yield there was a significant interaction between cultivar and irrigation treatment, indicating that cultivars differed in their response to the water deficit. The relationship between WUE and the other measured traits is discussed. The traits that most accurately reflect differences in WUE will next be optimised for use in screening large numbers of genotypes. We have crossed a drought tolerant accession of F. chiloensis with F. × ananassa to produce a progeny segregating for WUE in order to map quantitative trait loci (QTL). Molecular markers that are closely linked to QTL on the genetic map will be identified that can be employed in the development of cultivars that are capable of performing well under conditions of drought stress.
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