1 Introduction

Rubus chingii Hu is a medicinal and edible plant with long-standing use in China and substantial potential for coordinated development of herbal medicine, functional foods, and fruit processing industries (Yu et al., 2019; He et al., 2023). Its dried unripe fruit is the official Rubi Fructus recorded in the Chinese Pharmacopoeia, while the ripe fruit is also consumed directly or processed into products such as juice, jam, wine, vinegar, beverages, and teas, reflecting its dual-use value in medicine and food (Liu et al., 2023; Xiong et al., 2024). Traditional records and modern reviews consistently describe R. chingii as useful for nourishing the kidney and liver, consolidating essence, reducing urination, and improving vision, and modern studies further attribute antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antitumor, immunomodulatory, hypoglycemic, anti-aging, and neuroprotective activities to its diverse phytochemicals (Sheng et al., 2020). Chemically, the fruit is rich in terpenoids, flavonoids, phenolic compounds, organic acids, vitamins, amino acids, polysaccharides, and related secondary metabolites, with ellagic acid and kaempferol-3-O-rutinoside currently used as representative quality markers (Wu et al., 2024). Recent work also shows that the accumulation of these compounds varies markedly with genotype, tissue, origin, and fruit developmental stage, indicating that medicinal quality and edible quality are both dynamic traits rather than fixed characteristics (Li et al., 2025).

Despite this high value, the industrial development and standardized cultivation of R. chingii still lag behind its resource potential (He et al., 2023). Existing studies emphasize that the species has great development value in Zhejiang and other East China production areas, and it has been recognized as one of the representative “Zhe Bawei” medicinal materials, but current drug development remains relatively limited and the mechanistic understanding linking phytochemistry, pharmacology, and production practices is still not deep enough (Xiong et al., 2024). At the same time, fruit quality studies have identified large differences among genotypes in developmental period, soluble solids, acidity, vitamin C, anthocyanins, terpenoids, ellagic acid, and fruit firmness, and quality-marker studies across production origins have shown further differences in antioxidant activity, acidity, carbohydrates, volatiles, and candidate Q-markers. These findings show that improving the consistency of yield and quality in R. chingii requires not only germplasm selection and harvest-stage optimization, but also field management strategies capable of regulating vegetative growth, reproductive performance, and bioactive compound formation under production conditions (Li et al., 2025).

In medicinal and horticultural crops more broadly, water and fertilizer management is one of the main agronomic determinants of plant growth, yield formation, nutrient uptake, photosynthetic performance, and the synthesis of quality-related metabolites (Chatzistathis et al., 2025; Sharma et al., 2025). Multiple studies show that irrigation and fertilization often act through a coupling effect rather than as isolated factors. In Panax notoginseng, combined water and soluble organic fertilizer treatments increased yield and improved saponin accumulation, with intermediate irrigation and fertilizer levels producing the best comprehensive performance (Mu et al., 2023). In wolfberry, irrigation, nitrogen, and their interaction significantly affected growth, chlorophyll, yield, and quality, and the optimized water-nitrogen regime improved both productivity and quality indices. In melon, irrigation, fertilization, and their interaction significantly affected fruit yield and quality, while structural equation analysis indicated that photosynthesis influenced quality and yield mainly through dry matter accumulation and plant growth. Similar patterns have been reported in capsicum, pear, kiwifruit, eggplant, bitter melon, aonla, and Ophiopogon japonicus, where moderate or optimized nutrient-water regimes improved biomass, fruit weight, soluble solids, phenolics, antioxidant activity, medicinal components, or water and fertilizer use efficiency, whereas excessive or poorly coordinated inputs reduced quality or created sustainability risks (Cai et al., 2025; Dolatmand-Shahri et al., 2025; Liu et al., 2025). These results also highlight an important constraint: excessive irrigation and chemical fertilizer use can degrade soil conditions, increase production costs, and undermine sustainable cultivation, making precise water-fertilizer management especially important for high-value medicinal crops (Yang et al., 2023).

This review will investigates the regulatory effects and potential mechanisms of water and fertilizer management on fruit yield and quality formation in Rubus chingii. Although current studies on R. chingii have clarified its major bioactive compounds, developmental patterns, and potential quality markers, research on how cultivation practices regulate the coordinated formation of yield and quality traits under field conditions remains relatively limited. Since the medicinal value of R. chingii mainly depends on the accumulation of bioactive compounds such as ellagic acid, kaempferol derivatives, flavonoids, and terpenoids, and since the accumulation of these compounds is jointly influenced by growth stage, fruit tissue characteristics, and environmental conditions, optimizing water and nutrient supply to match plant growth, development, and fruit formation processes is essential for achieving high-yield, high-quality, and stable production of R. chingii. This study will systematically evaluate the effects of different water and fertilizer management regimes on plant growth, fruit yield, external quality, nutritional quality, and accumulation of medicinal active compounds in R. chingii. This review systematically summarizes the physiological mechanisms underlying water-fertilizer regulation of yield and quality formation will be analyzed, and optimized management strategies integrating production efficiency, stable medicinal quality, and sustainable industrial development will be proposed. This review provides a theoretical basis for establishing precision water-fertilizer management systems, implementing standardized cultivation practices, optimizing input management, and improving quality-oriented harvesting and processing, thereby promoting the efficient utilization of R. chingii medicinal resources and the high-quality development of its industry.

2 Effects of Water and Fertilizer Management on Growth and Development of Rubus chingii

2.1 Effects of water supply on vegetative growth and root development of Rubus chingii

Rubus chingii is a woody perennial medicinal and edible shrub whose field productivity depends on stable vegetative growth and effective root water uptake (He et al., 2023). Although direct irrigation studies in R. chingii are still limited, evidence from raspberry and other perennial fruit crops shows that water supply strongly regulates canopy expansion, branch growth, plant water status, and ultimately the root-shoot balance (Venig and Teușdea, 2026). In red raspberry, irrigation level significantly changed yield, fruit number, plant water status, and water productivity, and irrigation at 75% ETc produced the highest yield while saving 20~28% of water relative to heavier irrigation, indicating that moderate water supply can outperform excessive irrigation. Likewise, pulse drip irrigation in raspberry improved soil water availability and increased later-season production, while also increasing canopy cover and cane diameter in one or both years, showing that irrigation pattern as well as irrigation amount can affect vegetative vigor (Carroll et al., 2024).

Water deficit generally suppresses aboveground growth first, but moderate deficit can redirect assimilates toward the root system and improve water-use efficiency. In jujube, mild deficit irrigation reduced plant height growth and leaf area index, yet helped optimize source-sink relations and improved water-use efficiency, whereas severe deficit caused persistent physiological damage and stronger growth inhibition (Qiang et al., 2025). Pear studies further show that roots are highly sensitive to local water and nutrient conditions, and suitable water-fertilizer treatments increased root area and root density in the 0~60 cm soil layer while sustaining a higher leaf area index (Li et al., 2024). In apricot nursery plants, moderate irrigation maintained higher soil moisture and produced vegetative growth comparable to higher irrigation depths, again suggesting that growth benefits plateau once water supply exceeds plant demand (Venig and Teușdea, 2026). For R. chingii, these findings support the expectation that insufficient water will restrict shoot extension, leaf development, and root activity, while a moderate and well-timed water supply should favor coordinated vegetative growth and a more efficient root system.

2.2 Effects of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium supply on plant growth and biomass accumulation

Nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium are the primary macronutrients controlling plant growth, biomass formation, and nutrient metabolism, and their effects are especially important in medicinal plants because biomass production and active compound accumulation often respond differently to fertilization intensity (Fang et al., 2024; Chrysargyris and Tzortzakis, 2025a). In Ophiopogon japonicus, nitrogen source, P+K fertilization, and micronutrient supply all significantly affected agronomic traits and biomass production; P+K promoted plant height and fibrous root growth, and all three fertilization factors significantly affected tuber biomass, the main determinant of medicinal yield (Cai et al., 2025). This pattern is consistent with the broader evidence that balanced NPK supply, rather than single-nutrient maximization, is required to regulate root development, biomass accumulation, and whole-plant health. A global meta-analysis further found that aboveground biomass increased with N, P, and K additions individually, but increased more strongly with combined nutrient additions, especially NP and NPK treatments, supporting widespread nutrient co-limitation of plant growth.

The response to N, P, and K supply is not linear, and moderate or balanced rates often outperform deficiency and excess. In Sideritis cypria, an intermediate NPK scheme increased phenols, flavonoids, and antioxidant activity, whereas low nitrogen reduced fresh weight and chlorophyll, and very high potassium induced oxidative stress (Chrysargyris and Tzortzakis, 2025a). In Origanum dubium, intermediate NPK levels improved tissue potassium status, low potassium reduced biomass and increased oxidative stress, and higher nitrogen increased N accumulation and flavonoids but altered essential-oil composition (Chrysargyris and Tzortzakis, 2025b). Field evidence from Vitex negundo also shows that phosphorus supply can substantially increase biomass and essential-oil yield, with 200 kg P/ha producing the highest biomass and bioactive ingredient content (Peng and Ng, 2022). Because R. chingii fruit quality depends on flavonoids, phenolics, terpenoids, and related metabolites, balanced N, P, and K nutrition likely supports not only shoot and root biomass accumulation but also the material basis for later fruit yield and medicinal quality formation (Figure 1) (Yu et al., 2019; He et al., 2023; Wu et al., 2024).

Figure 1 Plant, flowers, dried fruitlet of R. chingii Hu (Fu-Pen-Zi) and related Chinese medicines (Adopted from He et al., 2023) Image caption: (A) Plant of R. chingii Hu, (B) Flowers, (C) WuziYanzong Pill, and (D) Dried fruitlet (Fu-Pen-Zi) (Adopted from He et al., 2023)

2.3 Effects of integrated water and fertilizer regulation on plant growth performance and stress resistance

Integrated water and fertilizer regulation usually has a stronger effect on plant performance than changing either factor alone because growth, nutrient absorption, and photosynthesis are jointly controlled by soil moisture and nutrient availability (Kazemalilou et al., 2021). In melon, irrigation, fertilization, and their interaction all significantly affected yield and quality, and the W2F2 treatment most effectively promoted total dry mass, while structural equation analysis showed that photosynthesis influenced yield and quality mainly through dry matter accumulation and growth (Yang et al., 2023). In capsicum, moderate irrigation and nitrogen supply produced the highest plant height, branch number, fruit weight, and nitrogen-use efficiency, with the I₂N₂ treatment giving the best overall performance (Sharma et al., 2025). Pear studies similarly found that suitable coupling treatments improved root growth, leaf area index, fruit development, and yield, indicating that coordinated supply better supports whole-plant growth than single-factor adjustment (Li et al., 2024).

Integrated regulation is also important for stress resistance, especially under water deficit. In bitter melon, reduced irrigation decreased fruit number, fruit weight, chlorophyll, and leaf phosphorus, while increasing electrolyte leakage and malondialdehyde, but AMF inoculation and phosphorus fertilizer reduced membrane damage and improved fruit weight under all irrigation levels (Dolatmand-Shahri et al., 2025). In lemon balm, combining compost, biochar, NPK fertilizer, and beneficial microbes significantly improved chlorophyll content, photosynthesis, stomatal conductance, antioxidant activity, and biomass under moderate drought, with integrated treatments increasing biomass by 2.31~2.76 times relative to the stressed control (Bolhassani et al., 2024). Tomato studies likewise show that compost, PGPR, and AMF alleviated drought-induced growth inhibition and increased shoot biomass and fruit yield, while broader synthesis indicates that integrated organic and inorganic fertilization improves water and nutrient uptake and enhances drought tolerance in a cost-effective way (Kazemalilou et al., 2021). For R. chingii, this evidence supports testing integrated water-fertilizer schemes as a practical route to improve vegetative growth, biomass accumulation, and resilience, thereby laying the physiological foundation for stable fruit yield and quality.

3 Water-Fertilizer Effects on Rubus chingii Yield Formation

3.1 Effects of irrigation methods and water supply on fruit yield formation

Irrigation method and water supply level directly affect fruit yield formation by changing fruit number, single-fruit mass, and the duration of effective fruit filling. In red raspberry, irrigation at 75% ETc produced the highest yield and fruit number, exceeding both the farmer’s higher irrigation level and the more severe deficit treatment, which shows that moderate irrigation can support stronger reproductive output than excessive watering. The same raspberry study found that 50% ETc gave the highest water productivity but not the highest yield, indicating that maximizing yield and maximizing water productivity are not identical goals. A later raspberry field study similarly showed that full irrigation at 100% ETc maximized yield per floricane and per meter of trellis, while stronger deficits reduced productivity, especially in cultivars sensitive to water shortage (Anđelić et al., 2025).

Irrigation pattern also matters, not only total water volume. In red raspberry under drip irrigation, pulse irrigation improved soil water availability and increased fruit production by 1 210~1 230 kg/ha in later harvest periods, with the gain arising mainly from larger fruit in one season and more berries per plant in another (Carroll et al., 2024). In strawberry, fixed partial root-zone drying generally outperformed traditional deficit irrigation, and F-PRD80 maintained yields statistically similar to full irrigation while using less water, whereas stronger water deficits clearly reduced yield and yield-related traits (Kaman et al., 2023). Mango showed the same overall pattern: irrigation amount was the most important factor affecting fruit yield and water-use efficiency, and severe drought constrained production, whereas a moderate deficit could improve comprehensive benefit when aligned with stage-specific fertilization (Sun et al., 2022). For R. chingii, these results support the view that fruit yield formation is favored by moderate, stable, and development-matched water supply, while both over-irrigation and excessive deficit can weaken fruit set or limit fruit enlargement.

3.2 Effects of different fertilization strategies on fruit-setting capacity and yield components

Different fertilization strategies influence yield mainly through their effects on fruit-setting rate, fruit number, and single-fruit weight, and the response is usually strongest under balanced rather than maximal NPK input. In Chinese cherry, NPK fertilization increased vegetative growth and positively affected fruit weight, fruit size, internal quality, and fruit set rate, with one intermediate combination giving the best overall fruit set and size rather than the highest nutrient dose. Fruit set rate in cherry was also positively correlated with fruit weight, vertical diameter, and soluble sugars, indicating that reproductive success and fruit filling were regulated together (Guo et al., 2022). In blueberry, fertilization significantly increased yield relative to the unfertilized control, and the best treatment raised yield per plant by 79.26%, while phosphorus and potassium showed particularly strong influence on fruit weight and yield ranking (Zhang et al., 2023).

Fertilizer timing is as important as fertilizer ratio. In peach, NPK supply from 95-65-76 to 165-84-103 kg/ha produced the highest yields, especially when nitrogen supply was high during flowering and fruit set, while higher N and K during fruit development and ripening improved fruit weight and size. In custard apple, split application of N, P, and K across basal, fruit-set, fruit-enlargement, and pre-harvest stages increased fruit yield by 23% and also gave the highest fruit number and fruit weight (Palepad et al., 2025). More broadly, farmers manage water and fertilization because they are the main levers for obtaining economic yield and fruit quality, but the evidence across fruit crops shows that excessive or poorly staged fertilization is less effective than balanced, growth-stage-specific nutrient supply (Maatallah et al., 2024). For R. chingii, whose fruits are valued for both medicinal and edible uses, this implies that rational N, P, and K scheduling should improve fruit-setting capacity and yield components while avoiding nutrient waste (Sheng et al., 2020; Wu et al., 2024).

3.3 Effects of water-fertilizer coupling management on yield performance and production efficiency

Water-fertilizer coupling management affects not only total yield but also yield performance and production efficiency because synchronized resource supply better matches crop demand across reproductive stages. In pear, appropriate coupling treatments promoted root and leaf growth and produced the highest yield, single-fruit weight, and primary fruit rate, showing that coordinated water, nitrogen, and phosphorus inputs improve the structural basis for stable fruit production (Li et al., 2024). In capsicum, moderate irrigation and nitrogen supply produced the highest fruit weight and fruit number per plant, and the I2N2 combination also maximized irrigation water productivity and fertilizer nitrogen use efficiency (Sharma et al., 2025). In jujube, increasing irrigation and nitrogen significantly increased fruit yield, and integrated water-fertilizer regulation improved economic efficiency by reducing mismatches between water and nutrient supply (Zhang et al., 2024).

Meta-analyses show that these responses are general rather than crop-specific. Across China, drip fertigation increased yield by 12.0%, water productivity by 26.4%, and nitrogen use efficiency by 34.3% compared with traditional irrigation and broadcast fertilization, with fruit crops showing especially large gains in nitrogen use efficiency (Li et al., 2021). A second meta-analysis found that water-fertilizer integration with drip irrigation improved yield by 12.5%, NUE by 31.3%, and WUE by 34.5%, and recommended lower-flow drip systems with nitrogen rates reduced by 10~25% from traditional practice. Stage-specific coupling studies in mango and watermelon add an important nuance: the treatment with the highest yield is not always the one with the highest comprehensive efficiency score, because moderate water deficit can reduce input costs and improve WUE while maintaining strong production (Sun et al., 2022; Wu et al., 2026). For R. chingii, the practical implication is that water-fertilizer coupling should aim at coordinated and stage-adapted input management to secure stable fruit yield, higher resource-use efficiency, and lower production risk rather than simply maximizing irrigation or fertilizer application.

4 Fruit Quality Formation in Rubus chingii

4.1 Effects of water and fertilizer conditions on fruit appearance quality and commercial value

Fruit appearance quality is a core component of the commercial value of Rubus chingii because size, firmness, color, and uniformity directly affect market acceptance for both fresh fruit and processed raw material, and these traits are highly responsive to preharvest water and fertilizer management (Jezek et al., 2018; He et al., 2023). Across fruit crops, suitable water and fertilizer supply improves fruit growth and marketable appearance, whereas insufficient or excessive inputs reduce quality by disturbing assimilate allocation and fruit development (Yang et al., 2023). In pear, water and fertilizer control within an appropriate range improved fruit growth and quality, and the best coupling treatment produced the highest fruit shape index, indicating a direct effect on appearance traits linked to commodity value (Li et al., 2024). In blackberry, nitrogen form strongly altered appearance quality, and NH₄⁺-N improved fruit size, firmness, and color more than other treatments, showing that not only fertilizer amount but also nutrient form can shape the external quality of berry fruit (Duan et al., 2023).

Water regulation also changes visible fruit traits in ways that can either improve appearance or sacrifice yield-related attributes, depending on stress intensity and timing. In table grape, a deficit irrigation program reduced water input by 30% without reducing total yield and promoted berry growth, higher maturity index, and earlier harvest, while biostimulation further increased berry size, berry weight, and the proportion of commercially colored berries (Zapata-García et al., 2025). In Crimson Seedless grape, reducing irrigation from 100% ETc to 40% ETc enhanced berry color, but the highest berry diameter and firmness occurred under full irrigation, and 60% ETc was judged the best compromise for pigmentation and quality with only slight yield penalties. Strawberry studies likewise show that fertilizer regime significantly changes color parameters and firmness, with organic fertilization producing more intensely colored fruit and higher soluble solids but lower firmness than conventional fertilizer (Kılıç et al., 2021). For R. chingii, these findings support the expectation that moderate water supply and balanced nutrient management will improve fruit size, color development, and marketability, whereas severe water deficit or unbalanced fertilization will tend to create trade-offs between appearance quality and production stability (Yu et al., 2019; Wu et al., 2024).

4.2 Effects of water and fertilizer regulation on sugar-acid composition and nutritional quality of fruits

Sugar-acid composition is one of the main determinants of fruit flavor and eating quality, and water-fertilizer management consistently changes soluble solids, soluble sugars, titratable acidity, and sugar-acid ratio across fruit crops (Kılıç et al., 2021; Yang et al., 2023). In mango, irrigation amount was the strongest factor affecting soluble solids and total sugar content, and the treatment with 75% ETc plus stage-specific fertilization produced the highest total sugar content and the lowest titratable acid content, while a different full-irrigation treatment gave the best soluble solids, vitamin C, and carotenoid contents (Sun et al., 2022). In wine grape, moderate irrigation reduced titratable acid by 3.3% and increased sugar-acid ratio by 12.2%, while lower irrigation reduced acid further and increased sugar-acid ratio by 20.0%, showing that water deficit often improves flavor balance up to a point (Han et al., 2023). Strawberry responds similarly: as soil moisture decreases, soluble sugar rises, titratable acidity falls, and the sugar-acid ratio increases markedly, although stronger stress also reduces yield, so the recommended irrigation level is about 70~80% of field capacity when balancing flavor and production (Yang et al., 2025).

Fertilizer strategy also affects nutritional quality beyond sugars and acids. In strawberry, fertilizer application significantly changed soluble solids, total acidity, vitamin C, and individual sugars, and organic fertilizer increased SSC and glucose but reduced vitamin C relative to conventional chemical fertilizer (Kılıç et al., 2021). In loquat, humic-acid water-soluble fertilizer increased single-fruit weight, raised total soluble sugar by 18.58~21.25%, reduced total organic acid by 13.73~21.50%, and increased sweetness value and sugar/acid ratio, although vitamin C declined at one concentration and total phenols and carotenoids were unchanged (Xing et al., 2026). In melon and tomato, irrigation amount remained the primary determinant of fruit quality indices, including soluble solids, vitamin C, soluble sugars, lycopene, and titratable acidity, while fertilizer timing at later reproductive stages contributed strongly to quality optimization (Yang et al., 2023). For R. chingii, whose ripe fruit is consumed directly and processed into multiple food products, these results indicate that regulating water deficit within a moderate range and coordinating fertilizer supply by developmental stage should help improve sweetness, acid balance, and nutritional value, but excessive stress or overfertilization could impair stability of quality formation (Yu et al., 2019; He et al., 2023).

4.3 Effects of water and fertilizer management on the accumulation of medicinal active compounds

For Rubus chingii, fruit quality is not defined only by sensory quality but also by the accumulation of medicinally active compounds, especially ellagic acid, kaempferol-3-O-rutinoside, flavonoids, terpenoids, phenolic acids, and related metabolites (Sheng et al., 2020; Wu et al., 2024). The Chinese Pharmacopoeia uses ellagic acid and kaempferol-3-O-rutinoside as index components, with minimum contents specified for quality control, which makes agronomic regulation of these compounds directly relevant to medicinal raw-material quality (Figure 2) (He et al., 2023). Evidence from broader fruit and medicinal-plant research shows that plant nutrient status strongly affects anthocyanins and other polyphenols, and finely tuned fertilization in amount and timing can improve fruit quality by regulating anthocyanin accumulation (Jezek et al., 2018). A general review of fertilization and plant polyphenols further shows that lower fertilization levels can increase flavonols and ellagic acid in strawberry, that high nitrogen often lowers polyphenol accumulation, and that the effect of NPK depends strongly on combination and crop context (Heimler et al., 2017).

Figure 2 Correlation diagram of chemical components and efficacy of Rubi fructus (Adopted from Wu et al., 2024)

The interaction between water stress and fertilization is especially important for secondary-metabolite formation because moderate stress can stimulate protective metabolism, whereas severe stress tends to damage protein status and membrane integrity. In medicinal plants, mild to moderate drought increased phenolics, flavonoids, and anthocyanins, while organic fertilizers such as vermicompost and azocompost stabilized antioxidant activity, reduced oxidative damage, and produced the strongest biochemical enhancement under moderate stress. Meta-analysis of medicinal plants shows that both organic and inorganic fertilizers can increase active constituents, while combined fertilization often gives the best balance between compound accumulation and soil sustainability . In blackberry, NH4⁺-N promoted anthocyanin, ellagic acid, and vitamin C accumulation, and polyphenols, ellagic acid, and anthocyanins were positively correlated with sugar content and fruit weight, indicating that quality improvement in berry crops can align sensory and functional quality under suitable nutrition (Duan et al., 2023). Therefore, for R. chingii, moderate water control and balanced fertilizer management, especially schemes that avoid excessive nitrogen and integrate organic and inorganic nutrient sources, are likely to favor the coordinated accumulation of medicinal actives and support higher-value production for both food and medicinal uses (Wu et al., 2024).

5 Mechanisms of Water-Fertilizer Regulation in Rubus chingii

5.1 Regulatory effects of water and fertilizer conditions on photosynthesis and carbon assimilation

Water and fertilizer conditions regulate yield and quality formation first by controlling leaf photosynthesis, stomatal behavior, canopy carbon gain, and the subsequent distribution of assimilates among vegetative organs and fruits. In fruit-tree models, carbon assimilation is explicitly linked to leaf area, canopy radiation interception, and organ growth demand, while carbohydrate allocation depends on source supply, sink demand, and root-shoot functional balance (Rahmati et al., 2018). Under water deficit, peach vegetative growth declines first through a direct reduction in sink strength and then through an indirect reduction in photosynthesis, showing that drought limits both carbon acquisition and the capacity of shoots to use assimilates (Rahmati et al., 2018). In bell pepper, elevated CO₂ increased biomass under mild and moderate water stress by boosting leaf photosynthesis, increasing stomatal number and openness, and improving leaf-level water-use efficiency, but this benefit weakened as soil water deficit became severe (Fan et al., 2020). These results indicate that carbon assimilation in R. chingii should depend on maintaining a water supply sufficient to preserve stomatal conductance, photosynthetic capacity, and active vegetative sinks, while avoiding excessive vegetative consumption that competes with fruit growth.

Fertilizer supply modifies this process by affecting photosynthetic enzymes, sugar metabolism, and the partitioning of photoassimilates to reproductive organs. In cotton, drought sharply reduced net photosynthesis, stomatal conductance, intercellular CO₂, and Rubisco activity when potassium was absent, whereas potassium application alleviated these declines and improved biomass accumulation and assimilate partitioning. Potassium also maintained higher leaf sucrose under drought by regulating sucrose phosphate synthase, sucrose synthase, and acid invertase activities, indicating that nutrient supply affects not only carbon fixation but also carbon conversion and export (Zahoor et al., 2017). In tomato, fruit fresh weight, dry weight, and carbon allocation were highly sensitive to irrigation amount under potassium supply, and the activities of sucrose synthase, sucrose phosphate synthase, acid invertase, and AGPase responded strongly to water regime, showing that water-potassium interactions directly shape fruit carbon metabolism (Wu et al., 2023). In red raspberry, moderate irrigation at 75% ETc produced the highest yield, implying that carbon gain and reproductive allocation are optimized under moderate rather than excessive irrigation. For R. chingii, these findings support a mechanism in which suitable water-fertilizer management enhances photosynthetic carbon assimilation, stabilizes sucrose metabolism, and improves the transfer of assimilates from leaves to developing fruits.

5.2 Regulatory mechanisms of water and fertilizer supply on nutrient uptake, transport, and allocation

Water and fertilizer management also regulates yield and quality through its effects on nutrient release in soil, root absorption, xylem-phloem transport, and allocation among leaves, stems, roots, and fruits. Water availability strongly governs nutrient mobility in soil and transpiration-driven mass flow, so drought often creates simultaneous water and nitrogen limitation and restricts nutrient entry into the vascular system (Plett et al., 2020). In alpine plants, drought restricted rhizospheric nitrogen release, limited root growth, reduced root surface area, root length, and root volume, and decreased both aboveground and belowground fertilizer utilization rates. Soybean showed the same overall pattern: water deficit and no nitrogen fertilization reduced the accumulation and partitioning of N, P, K, Ca, Mg, S, and micronutrients, and water limitation impaired biomass and nutrient accumulation even when nitrogen was supplied (Setubal et al., 2023). These mechanisms are highly relevant to R. chingii because stable fruiting requires continuous nutrient supply to both vegetative tissues and reproductive sinks, and any reduction in root uptake or long-distance transport can weaken fruit set, fruit growth, and quality formation.

The effect of fertilizer depends on both dose and coordination with water supply. In substrate-grown tomato, an appropriate potassium level promoted coordinated uptake of K, N, P, Ca, and Mg during the reproductive stage, while insufficient potassium restricted root-mediated water and nutrient flux and excessive potassium reduced physiological efficiency because of luxury consumption and salt stress. In winter wheat, NPK uptake in aboveground biomass decreased as water stress intensified, but mild deficit did not differ significantly from full irrigation, and moderate fertigation promoted nutrient transfer to grains without significantly reducing yield or protein (Yan et al., 2022). In greenhouse grape, bacterial fertilizer under mild water stress increased available phosphorus, dissolved organic carbon, microbial biomass carbon and nitrogen, and soil enzyme activities, indicating that rhizosphere biological processes can improve nutrient availability and production efficiency under constrained water supply (Gao et al., 2025). Together, these studies indicate that R. chingii likely responds best to moderate, coordinated water-fertilizer supply that sustains root activity, preserves ionic balance, and directs more nutrients toward fruit-bearing organs rather than inefficient vegetative accumulation.

5.3 Effects of water and fertilizer conditions on secondary metabolite biosynthesis and accumulation

Water and fertilizer conditions affect fruit quality further by regulating the biosynthesis and accumulation of secondary metabolites, which are central to the medicinal and nutritional value of R. chingii. Rubus chingii fruit contains abundant flavonoids, phenolic compounds, terpenoids, phenolic acids, organic acids, and related metabolites, and ellagic acid and kaempferol-3-O-rutinoside are currently used as representative quality markers (He et al., 2023). In fruit crops more broadly, secondary metabolism is highly sensitive to abiotic cues, and these compounds influence pigmentation, flavor, antioxidant capacity, and economic value (Savoi et al., 2016). Grape studies show that water deficit directly modulates the flavonoid pathway: early or moderate deficit can increase anthocyanin accumulation by upregulating PAL, C4H, 4CL, CHS, F3H, F3′5′H, UFGT, GST, and related transcriptional regulators, whereas severe or poorly timed deficit can downregulate pathway genes or shift composition in less favorable directions (Palai et al., 2022). Water deficit can also accelerate sugar accumulation and ripening, thereby interacting with developmental signals that promote anthocyanin synthesis.

These metabolic responses arise through both concentration effects and true biosynthetic regulation, and fertilizer status modifies them further. In Shiraz grape, water deficit reduced berry size, increased the skin-to-pulp ratio, and thereby increased phenolic concentration indirectly, but it also exerted a direct effect on biosynthesis that varied with stress timing and severity. In white grape, prolonged drought altered 4 889 genes, increased phenylpropanoids, monoterpenes, and tocopherols, and modulated 18 phenylpropanoid, 16 flavonoid, 9 carotenoid, and 16 terpenoid structural genes, showing that drought broadly reprograms secondary metabolism beyond anthocyanins alone (Savoi et al., 2016). Nutrient status interacts with these pathways because potassium improved anthocyanin, ellagic acid, and vitamin C accumulation in blackberry under ammonium nutrition, and strategic nutrient supply is recognized as a tool for modifying anthocyanin biosynthesis and fruit quality (Duan et al., 2023). For R. chingii, this supports a mechanism in which moderate water regulation and balanced fertilization not only maintain yield, but also reshape phenylpropanoid, flavonoid, terpenoid, and related pathways to determine the accumulation of medicinally active compounds and the final quality of the fruit.

6 Current Research Problems in Rubus chingii Water-Fertilizer Management

6.1 Insufficient understanding of water and fertilizer requirements at different growth stages

A primary problem in current Rubus chingii research is the lack of precise knowledge about water and fertilizer requirements across different growth stages, even though evidence from other fruit crops shows that the sensitivity of yield and quality traits changes sharply with phenology. In mango, irrigation amount and fertilizer rates at flowering, fruit expansion, and ripening contributed differently to yield, WUE, sugar, vitamin C, and carotenoids, and the recommended schedule required different fertilizer inputs at each stage rather than a single fixed regime (Sun et al., 2022). Tomato studies likewise show that irrigation amount is the primary determinant of yield and WUE, but fruit quality traits are affected differently by fertilizer applications in early, middle, and late reproductive stages, indicating that static fertilizer ratios cannot fully meet dynamic crop demand. Kiwifruit provides especially direct evidence that water-fertilizer deficit thresholds vary by stage: stage II and III deficits mainly changed physical quality, whereas stage III and IV deficits more strongly improved chemical quality, with different optimal deficit thresholds for water and fertilizer (Zha et al., 2023).

This gap is important for Rubus chingii because stage-specific regulation likely determines not only fruit yield but also medicinal-quality formation, yet current evidence is still too sparse to define critical windows for irrigation and fertilization. Melon experiments show that fertilization significantly affected net photosynthesis during flowering and fruiting, while growth then became the strongest direct driver of yield and quality, indicating that stage-specific water-fertilizer effects operate through changing physiological bottlenecks over time (Yang et al., 2023). Raspberry production research also shows that fruiting responses differ by fertilization system, and biologically supported mineral systems increased fruiting laterals, fruits per lateral, fruit weight, and soluble solids, suggesting that reproductive-stage nutrient demand is not captured well by conventional uniform fertilization schemes (Pešaković et al., 2026). Even in controlled strawberry systems, most water management strategies still rely on rigid schedules rather than variable plant requirements over time, and comprehensive comparisons remain limited, which underscores how underdeveloped dynamic demand-based management remains across berry crops (Hutchinson et al., 2025).

6.2 Need for improvement in water and fertilizer management systems and production standards

A second major problem is that water-fertilizer management systems and production standards for Rubus chingii are still insufficiently standardized, especially for precise irrigation, fertigation, and sustainability-oriented input control. Kiwifruit research states this problem explicitly: orchard water and fertilizer management lacked quantitative standards, and this seriously affected yield and quality, making regulated drip irrigation and fertilization necessary for green and efficient production (Zha et al., 2023). The broader fruit-crop literature shows that drip fertigation can synchronize water and nutrient delivery with crop demand and often serves as the basis for benchmark management schedules, yet its performance depends strongly on local climate, soil, and managerial conditions (Han et al., 2023). In China-wide meta-analysis, drip fertigation increased crop yield by 12.0%, water productivity by 26.4%, and NUE by 34.3% relative to traditional practices, with fruit crops showing the greatest NUE gain, which supports the need for Rubus chingii production standards built around precise fertigation rather than empirical watering and fertilization (Li et al., 2021).

The problem is not only the absence of standards, but also the lack of intelligent and adaptive management tools that can support those standards in production. In greenhouse strawberry, sensor-based fertigation outperformed empiric timer-based management by saving 38% of nutrient solution and 26% of water while increasing WUE and nutrient productivity without compromising fruit quality, showing that real-time monitoring can replace coarse scheduling rules (Bonelli et al., 2024). A second strawberry study reached a similar conclusion: drier sensor-controlled thresholds and leaching-fraction approaches gave the best combined yield and resource-use performance, whereas common rigid scheduling did not track variable plant demand well (Hutchinson et al., 2025). Current tomato work also argues for dynamic fertilization models, plant physiological indicators such as leaf N and K, and soil sensors for real-time nutrient monitoring, which highlights the direction Rubus chingii management standards still need to move toward.

6.3 Limited research on the coordinated improvement mechanisms of yield and quality

A third problem is the limited mechanistic understanding of how water and fertilizer management can improve yield and quality together, rather than improving one at the expense of the other. Many studies show that the best treatment for yield is not the best for fruit quality. In mango, one regime produced the highest yield and PFP, while another produced the highest total sugar and lowest titratable acidity, and the final recommendation required multi-objective evaluation rather than a single agronomic index (Sun et al., 2022). Tomato showed the same pattern: one treatment achieved the highest integrated score for yield, WUE, and PFP, while another performed best for vitamin C, lycopene, SSC, and soluble protein. Wine grape likewise required moderate water and fertilizer to balance yield, berry quality, and resource-use efficiency, while moderate fertilization specifically produced the richest anthocyanin and tannin accumulation (Han et al., 2023).

For Rubus chingii, this unresolved coordination problem is even more critical because target quality includes not only edible traits but also medicinally active compounds. Bitter melon under irrigation deficit showed a typical trade-off: reduced irrigation lowered fruit number and weight but increased flavonoids, anthocyanins, and medicinal secondary metabolites, while AMF and phosphorus partly buffered yield loss and enhanced phytochemicals (Dolatmand-Shahri et al., 2025). Red raspberry studies similarly show that some fertilizers improve berry weight, sugars, and bioactive compounds, while unfertilized control can still produce a better sweetness index, indicating that different quality dimensions do not move together automatically (Stojanov et al., 2019). Emerging work in raspberry and pear suggests that microbial or bio-organic inputs may help bridge this gap by improving fruiting traits, phenolics, antioxidant activity, soil fertility, and yield through rhizosphere-mediated mechanisms, but the exact causal links remain disputed and insufficiently resolved for standardized field application in Rubus chingii (Pešaković et al., 2026).

7 Development Directions for Precision Water-Fertilizer Management

7.1 Establishment of precision water and fertilizer regulation models based on cultivar characteristics and growth stages

A key development direction for Rubus chingii is the establishment of precision regulation models that explicitly incorporate cultivar characteristics, phenological stage, and multi-objective production targets. Current precision water-fertilizer research shows that different crops require nutrient ratios and irrigation schedules that are scientifically matched to crop characteristics and growth stages rather than applied uniformly (Xing and Wang, 2024). In mango, irrigation amount and fertilizer rates at flowering, fruit expansion, and fruit ripening affected yield, water-use efficiency, sugars, vitamin C, and carotenoids differently, and the recommended schedule was stage-specific rather than fixed across the season (Sun et al., 2022). Tomato studies reached the same conclusion: irrigation amount was the primary determinant of yield and WUE, but fruit quality responded differently to fertilizer inputs at seedling, flowering/fruit-set, and peak-fruit stages, so optimization required a multi-objective framework rather than a single yield criterion.

Future Rubus chingii models should therefore be dynamic rather than static, using growth and physiological indicators to update recommended water and nutrient inputs over time. In industrial strawberry, a closed-loop framework quantified stage-specific responses of growth and photosynthetic traits across seedling, flowering, and harvest stages, achieved a model error of only 0.60%, and identified optimal ranges of water, nitrogen, and potassium that balanced high yield, high efficiency, and low pollution (Li et al., 2026). Kiwifruit likewise showed that the critical periods and thresholds for improving physical quality differed from those for chemical quality, with stage II-III deficits favoring physical traits and stage III-IV deficits more strongly improving chemical quality (Zha et al., 2023). Because perennial berry crops also show strong stage dependence in dry matter accumulation and nutrient uptake, Rubus chingii regulation models should be built around phenology-specific demand curves and then calibrated for cultivar-specific yield and medicinal-quality targets (Bao et al., 2023).

7.2 Promotion of integrated water and fertilizer technologies and green efficient cultivation practices

A second major direction is the promotion of integrated water-fertilizer technologies, especially drip fertigation and deficit-based coupling strategies that raise production efficiency while lowering resource losses. Large meta-analyses show that water-fertilizer integration with drip irrigation increased yield by 12.5%, WUE by 34.5%, and NUE by 31.3%, and was particularly suitable for fruit trees in medium-textured soils. A second China-wide meta-analysis similarly found that drip fertigation increased yield by 12.0%, water productivity by 26.4%, and NUE by 34.3%, with fruit crops showing the largest NUE gains (Li et al., 2021). Reviews of drip fertigation further show that targeted delivery to the root zone reduces evaporation, runoff, and deep percolation while enabling stage-specific nutrition and better economic returns, which makes it a strong candidate technology for green and efficient Rubus chingii cultivation (Kaviyazhagan et al., 2025).

For Rubus chingii, integrated systems should emphasize spatiotemporal coupling of irrigation and fertilization, moderate deficit control, and reduced conventional fertilizer input rather than simply increasing supply intensity. In watermelon, intelligent drip fertigation tailored irrigation thresholds and fertilizer allocation to crop stage, reduced irrigation, N, P₂O₅, and K₂O inputs by 33%, 46%, 72%, and 57%, respectively, without compromising yield or fruit quality (Bao et al., 2023). In pear, suitable coupling treatments improved fruit shape, yield, primary fruit rate, and fruit quality, indicating that integrated management can simultaneously strengthen productivity and commodity traits (Li et al., 2024). Grape studies further show that optimal irrigation and fertilization intervals differ between wet and dry years, so future Rubus chingii systems should include climate-responsive adjustment rules rather than one fixed annual formula (Peng et al., 2024).

7.3 Application of smart agriculture technologies for precision water and fertilizer management and quality regulation

A third development direction is the application of smart agriculture technologies to support real-time diagnosis, automated control, and quality-oriented regulation. Precision water-fertilizer systems increasingly rely on sensors, remote sensing, GIS, IoT communication, and AI-assisted decision support to monitor soil moisture, fertility, and crop growth in real time (Xing and Wang, 2024). Reviews of smart sensing in specialty crops show that proximal sensors, UAV hyperspectral imaging, and data-fusion models can diagnose crop nutritional and water status non-destructively and replace uniform input strategies with crop-responsive management (Khoddamzadeh et al., 2026). More general IoT reviews reach the same conclusion: soil moisture, pH, temperature, and nutrient sensors provide real-time field data, while variable-rate application and predictive analytics allow inputs to be delivered only where and when needed (Mansoor et al., 2025).

For Rubus chingii, the practical value of smart agriculture will depend on translating these tools into closed-loop fertigation and quality-regulation platforms. In greenhouse tomato, an intelligent drip irrigation and fertigation system combined automatic control with flow-meter monitoring to ensure treatment-specific water delivery. In tomato and watermelon, FDR sensor-linked intelligent fertigation increased dry matter accumulation, nutrient uptake, root growth, yield, and quality while markedly reducing irrigation inputs and nutrient leakage. Broader smart-irrigation studies show that machine-learning systems can integrate sensor and weather data, achieve high predictive accuracy, and provide web-based supervision for low-cost deployment, although infrastructure cost, interoperability, and rural connectivity remain important implementation constraints (Tace et al., 2022; Miller et al., 2025).

8 Conclusions and Perspectives

Water and fertilizer management plays an important role in fruit yield formation of Rubus chingii. Appropriate irrigation and balanced nutrient supply can regulate photosynthesis, reproductive development, fruit set, fruit enlargement, and resource-use efficiency, thereby improving yield performance. Studies in fruit crops show that moderate water and fertilizer inputs generally achieve better production performance than excessive application, while balanced fertilization promotes photosynthetic capacity and assimilate supply, providing a physiological basis for stable fruit development. For R. chingii, rational water-fertilizer management is therefore a key strategy for achieving efficient and sustainable yield formation.

Water-fertilizer regulation also has great potential for improving fruit quality and medicinal value in R. chingii. By optimizing water supply and nutrient allocation, it can regulate sugar-acid balance, nutritional characteristics, and the accumulation of bioactive compounds such as flavonoids, phenolics, ellagic acid, and kaempferol-3-O-rutinoside. Moderate water regulation and balanced fertilization may promote the coordinated improvement of edible quality and medicinal quality, providing an effective approach for producing high-value raw materials for both food and traditional medicine applications.

Future R. chingii production should focus on developing precision water-fertilizer management systems based on cultivar characteristics, growth stages, environmental conditions, and intelligent monitoring technologies. Precision drip fertigation, sensor-based regulation, and data-driven models are promising approaches for improving water and nutrient use efficiency. Further studies should establish region-specific management thresholds, evaluate economic and ecological benefits, and integrate genotype selection, stage-based fertigation, biological inputs, and smart sensing technologies to achieve simultaneous improvements in yield, fruit quality, medicinal value, and sustainable production efficiency.

Conflict of Interest Disclosure

The author affirms that this research was conducted without any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

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