Canopy Structure and Water Use Efficiency Variations Between Short- and Long-Day Strawberry Cultivars Revealed by Non-Destructive 3D Phenotyping

Cultivars of strawberry (Fragaria × ananassa) differ in photoperiodic responses, which influence the balance between vegetative and reproductive growth, shaping canopy development, biomass production, and water use efficiency (WUE). Using 3D point-cloud phenotyping, this study compared the canopy structure and WUE of the short-day cultivar ‘Sonata’ and long-day cultivar ‘Favori’ grown under identical greenhouse conditions. Cultivar-specific growth and water use traits were quantified using daily non-destructive 3D point cloud phenotyping combined with continuous whole-plant gravimetry, supported by manual and destructive measurements. Non-destructive estimates of plant height and digital biomass corresponded moderately to measurements (height: R2 = 0.628; biomass: R2 = 0.579; mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) = 13.86%). Growth analysis indicated similar relative growth rates between the two cultivars, whereas the crop growth rate was higher in ‘Sonata’ than in ‘Favori’. Integration of growth estimates with gravimetric records revealed higher period average WUE in ‘Sonata’ (3.1 mg g−1) than in ‘Favori’ (2.5 mg g−1). These results highlight the distinctive growth strategies of a canopy-driven pattern in ‘Sonata’ and a reproduction-driven pattern in ‘Favori’. The combined 3D phenotyping–gravimetry framework provides a high-resolution, non-destructive approach to quantify cultivar-specific growth and water use traits.