This study aimed to develop an automated irrigation system for substrate-grown strawberry plants and to evaluate whether irrigation and biostimulation levels influence yield and fruit quality. The system comprised two Arduino Pro Mini devices equipped with LoRa transceivers, substrate moisture sensors, and servomotors for valve control. Six biostimulants were assessed control (without biostimulation), microalga Spirulina platensis (SP), mycorrhiza Scutellospora heterogama (SH), a mycorrhizal community (SJ CS), SP + SH, and SP + SJ CS under four irrigation levels reference tension of 5 kPa (moderate water deficit), 10% above the reference tension (severe water deficit), 10% below the reference tension (mild water deficit), and standard irrigation without restriction defined by substrate water tension. Data were collected in real time and analyzed using the InfluxDB (version 3 Core) and Grafana (version 12.3.2) platforms. The automated system-controlled valve activation was based on moisture sensor readings, enabling the establishment of irrigation levels supported by energy-efficient technologies. Under standard irrigation, fruits exhibited lower acidity and improved flavor compared to those from plants under water deficit. Plants subjected to mild water deficit or standard irrigation achieved higher yields than those exposed to moderate or severe deficit. Fruits produced by plants treated with S. heterogama showed higher phytochemical concentrations. Overall, the findings support the use of automated irrigation and biostimulation as sustainable management strategies to enhance water use efficiency, productivity, and fruit quality in soilless strawberry cultivation.
Magro et al. (Sun,) studied this question.