Effects of different colored mulch and irrigation levels on yield, morpho- physiological and biochemical properties in rubygem strawberry variety and economic analysis of applications

This thesis study was conducted under Spanish-type high tunnels during the 2022-2023 growing seasons on Rubygem strawberry variety, with two different irrigation levels (IR100 and IR50) and different colored mulch applications (gray, black, blue, red, yellow, green, pink, brown). As a result of the study, at the IR100 (593 mm) irrigation level, the highest soil moisture was maintained throughout the growing season under blue mulch (average, 32.26%), followed by red (32.08%), green (31.41%), brown (31.37%), gray (30.35%), pink (30.33%), black (29.54%), and yellow (29.22%) mulch applications. Under the IR50 (355 mm) irrigation regime, the highest soil water content was observed in brown mulch (28.46%), followed by blue (25.38%), red (24.9%), green (24.24%), gray (23.91%), pink (23.22%), black (22.63%), and yellow (20.18%) mulch. All yield parameters were negatively affected by water stress. Blue mulch provided the highest yield per plant with 945 g under full irrigation, while yellow mulch resulted in the lowest yield at both irrigation levels. Among the IR50 applications, the highest yield was observed with brown mulch, reaching 569.6 g per plant, with no significant difference compared to blue mulch. In the economic analysis of the study, the highest benefit-cost ratio was achieved with the IR100 and blue mulch scenario.