The escalating regulatory pressure to achieve sustainable groundwater use in California will demand improved irrigation efficiency. Even though approximately 80 to 90% of the sprinkler-applied water to a strawberry crop is lost through runoff, deep percolation and evaporation, all the strawberry fields in Ventura County are still irrigated with overhead sprinklers during crop establishment. This study quantified differences in water use, yield, canopy coverage and root depth between drip tape and micro-sprinkler irrigation during crop establishment at a commercial field located in Oxnard, CA during the 2023-2024 growing season. Treatments consisted of three irrigation methods used during the first five weeks: 1) primarily drip tape (DT), 2) micro-sprinklers only (MS), and 3) a combination of drip tape and micro-sprinklers (C). The irrigation scheduling of the MS treatment was defined by the irrigator (grower standard), while the DT and C treatments were guided by tensiometers and field observations. All other production practices remained the same. Each treatment was replicated four times in a randomized complete block design, with an area of approximately 1.7 acre per plot (40 beds of 350ft long). Treatments were carried out for 35 days from planting (Oct 5), after which drip irrigation became the only irrigation method. Total water use during establishment was very similar among treatments: 3.9, 3.6 and 4.0 acre-in for DT, C and MS, respectively. With four plant rows and three drip lines per bed, the DT treatment was irrigated for longer than anticipated to assure uniform soil moisture around the plant roots. Marketable yield until Mar 14 was 4,583, 4,229 and 4,297 lb/acre for DT, MS and C, respectively. Although not statistically significant, DT yield was 8.4% greater than MS (p-value = 0.802), and 6.7% greater than C (p-value = 0.865). Canopy cover trends were very similar between DT and C, while MS was between 13 and 29% lower than DT from 48 to 61 days after planting. Canopy coverage equalized at 90 days after planting after significant precipitation during Dec and Jan. Average root depth of DT was 38 and 19% greater than MS for 15 and 28 days after planting, respectively. In summary, this study found equal or superior crop performance of DT compared to MS during strawberry establishment. We expect that increasing the number of drip tape per bed from three to four would significantly decrease the irrigation time needed to provide ideal soil moisture, consequently decreasing water use.
