Li et al. (2026) Mild deficit irrigation: A water-saving strategy for enhancing fruit quality and water production of wolfberry

Identification

• Journal: Industrial Crops and Products
• Year: 2026
• Date: 2026-09-05
• Authors: Haiyan Li, Yanxia Kang, Minhua Yin, Guangping Qi, Yanlin Ma, Yayu Wang, Bojie Xie, Yuanbo Jiang, Jiapeng Zhu, Yujie Shang, Boda Li
• DOI: 10.1016/j.indcrop.2026.124316

Research Groups

• College of Water Conservancy and Hydropower Engineering, Gansu Agricultural University
• Gansu Provincial Agricultural Smart Water-Saving Technology Innovation Center
• College of Horticulture, Gansu Agricultural University

Short Summary

This study investigates the effects of mild deficit irrigation on wolfberry growth, physiology, yield, quality, and water productivity in arid and semi-arid regions. The results show that mild deficit irrigation (W1) enhances wolfberry yield and quality while ensuring efficient water utilization.

Objective

• Investigate how water regulation affects wolfberry growth, physiology, yield, quality, and water productivity.
• Elucidate the reciprocal mechanisms among wolfberry growth, physiology, yield, and quality.
• Derive a water management protocol tailored to arid and semi-arid zones that enables simultaneous achievement of water savings, yield gains, and quality enhancements.

Study Configuration

• Spatial Scale: Field experiment conducted at the Irrigation Experiment Station in Gansu Province, northwestern China (37◦23′N, 104◦08′E).
• Temporal Scale: Three-year field trial from 2021 to 2023.

Methodology and Data

• Models used: Water balance method for calculating evapotranspiration (ETc act), partial least squares path model for analyzing relationships among indicators.
• Data sources: Field measurements of soil water content, wolfberry growth indicators, physiological indicators, quality indicators, yield, and water productivity.

Main Results

• Wolfberry plant height and stem diameter decreased with intensifying water deficit.
• Leaf SPAD values declined with increasing drought severity.
• Photosynthetic parameters (Pn, Tr, Cond) showed a unimodal pattern across the growing season, decreasing with increasing drought severity.
• Quality indicators (total sugars, polysaccharides, proteins, vitamin C, ash content) were significantly affected by water regulation and planting year.
• Wolfberry yield, dry weight of fruits per plant, 100-fruit dry weight, dry-to-fresh ratio, WPc, and WPI showed a quadratic relationship with irrigation.

Contributions

• This study provides a comprehensive evaluation of the effects of mild deficit irrigation on wolfberry growth, physiology, yield, quality, and water productivity.
• The results suggest that mild deficit irrigation (W1) is an effective strategy for enhancing wolfberry yield and quality while ensuring efficient water utilization in arid and semi-arid regions.

Funding

• This research was funded by the Gansu Provincial Agricultural Smart Water-Saving Technology Innovation Center.

Citation

@article{Li2026Mild,
  author = {Li, Haiyan and Kang, Yanxia and Yin, Minhua and Qi, Guangping and Ma, Yanlin and Wang, Yayu and Xie, Bojie and Jiang, Yuanbo and Zhu, Jiapeng and Shang, Yujie and Li, Boda},
  title = {Mild deficit irrigation: A water-saving strategy for enhancing fruit quality and water production of wolfberry},
  journal = {Industrial Crops and Products},
  year = {2026},
  doi = {10.1016/j.indcrop.2026.124316},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.indcrop.2026.124316}
}