Assessment of Physiological Traits of <i>Fragaria vesca</i> Genotypes Under Water Deficit Conditions

Drought is one of the key challenges of climate change. The basic global problem related to the increasing water deficit is that the vast majority of crops are species and varieties that are the result of breeding work that did not anticipate such a rapid decrease in water availability in the soil. The main objective of the conducted research was to compare the physiological and biochemical response to water deficit of plants of the species <i>Fragaria vesca</i>—two cultivated varieties, and one collected from the natural environment. A two-year pot experiment was conducted in a polyethylene tunnel. The substrate moisture level was monitored using tensiometer readings. Measurements of gas exchange parameters, chlorophyll “a” fluorescence, content of photosynthetic pigments in leaves, index of relative water content in leaves, total fruit yield, single fruit mass and content of K, Ca, Mg, Na, Cu, Zn, Mn, Mo and the ratio of mono- to divalent cations in leaves, roots and plant crowns were taken three times each year during the experiments. Based on one-way and two-way analysis of variance, statistically significant differences were observed between wild-growing plants and cultivated varieties under control conditions, particularly in terms of chlorophyll fluorescence values and the content of photosynthetic pigments. A significant main effect of the soil moisture level was identified for most measured parameters across the majority of assessment time points. However, a significant interaction effect between soil moisture level and genotype was less frequently observed. Significant changes in response to water deficit varied depending on the parameter and genotype, ranging from 2.5% to 106.1%. For the content of chemical elements, the changes reached up to 157.1%. The results suggest that plants obtained from natural environments exhibit better adaptation to water deficit conditions, making them suitable for use in breeding programs aimed at developing varieties resistant to soil water deficits. However, the study’s limitations, particularly the absence of molecular analyses regarding the plants’ adaptive mechanisms, should be taken into consideration.