Water productivity has become a key requirement in sustainable crop production and environmental management. Deficit irrigation (DI) and partial root-zone drying irrigation (PRDI) are two strategies that have been exploited to maximize crop production per unit water, with attendant effect on the quality attributes of harvest index. We employed meta-analysis to synthesize evidence for the relative performance of full irrigation (FI), DI and PRDI for three quality attributes of fruits and vegetables, namely, total soluble solids (TSS), titratable acidity (TA) and pH. Overall, TSS, TA and pH of crops under DI and PRDI do not differ significantly. However, TSS in crops under DI and PRDI are significantly larger than that of crops under FI. DI and PRDI improve TSS by 4.1 ± 1.8% and 5.0 ± 2.0%, respectively, relative to FI. Crops under the three irrigation techniques do not differ significantly in TA and pH. The differences in TSS of crops are contextual, depending on type of crop, soil texture and irrigation frequency. The effect of water-saving irrigation on the selected crop quality attributes may, therefore, have the add-on effects of crop, system and/or site characteristics. Therefore, in terms of quality attributes, water-saving irrigation techniques are superior to FI when considering improvement in TSS without significantly altering TA or pH of fruits and vegetables.

中文翻译：

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节水灌溉能提高果蔬品质吗？荟萃分析的证据

水资源生产力已成为可持续作物生产和环境管理的关键要求。亏缺灌溉 (DI) 和部分根区干燥灌溉 (PRDI) 是两种已被利用以最大化单位水作物产量的策略，同时对收获指数的质量属性产生相应影响。我们采用荟萃分析综合了充分灌溉 (FI)、DI 和 PRDI 对水果和蔬菜的三个质量属性的相对性能的证据，即总可溶性固体 (TSS)、可滴定酸度 (TA) 和 pH。总体而言，DI 和 PRDI 下作物的 TSS、TA 和 pH 没有显着差异。然而，DI和PRDI下作物的TSS明显大于FI下作物的TSS。相对于 FI，DI 和 PRDI 分别将 TSS 提高了 4.1 ± 1.8% 和 5.0 ± 2.0%。三种灌溉技术下的作物在 TA 和 pH 值方面没有显着差异。作物 TSS 的差异因环境而异，取决于作物类型、土壤质地和灌溉频率。因此，节水灌溉对选定的作物品质属性的影响可能具有作物、系统和/或场地特征的附加效应。因此，在质量属性方面，考虑到在不显着改变水果和蔬菜的 TA 或 pH 值的情况下改善 TSS 时，节水灌溉技术优于 FI。系统和/或站点特征。因此，在质量属性方面，考虑到在不显着改变水果和蔬菜的 TA 或 pH 值的情况下改善 TSS 时，节水灌溉技术优于 FI。系统和/或站点特征。因此，在质量属性方面，考虑到在不显着改变水果和蔬菜的 TA 或 pH 值的情况下改善 TSS 时，节水灌溉技术优于 FI。