Optimal Water Management and Sustainability in Irrigated Agriculture Series II

A special issue of Agronomy (ISSN 2073-4395). This special issue belongs to the section "Water Use and Irrigation".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 15 September 2024 | Viewed by 5288

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Laboratory of General and Agricultural Hydraulics and Land Reclamation, School of Agriculture, Faculty of Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Environment, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 54124 Thessaloniki, Greece
Interests: crop water requirements and irrigation scheduling; surface and pressurized irrigation networks; pricing irrigation water; climate change; sustainable development goals (SDGs) and water management; water footprint and life cycle assessment (LCA)
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Laboratory of General and Agricultural Hydraulics and Land Reclamation, School of Agriculture, Faculty of Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Environment, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 54124 Thessaloniki, Greece
Interests: water resources and irrigation systems management; optimization of irrigation networks; simulation and optimization models in water resources; irrigation management and scheduling; simulation of preferential flow; climate change and drought analysis
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The contribution of irrigation is crucial in agriculture. Therefore, the sustainability of irrigated agriculture demands the efficient management of the available but limited water resources under the existing constraints. Water demand in irrigation is expected to increase in the near future, and it will be seriously impacted by climate change, specifically in arid and semi-arid areas. It is widely believed that an increase in irrigation water use efficiency is the key to addressing water shortage and reducing environmental problems. In this context, robust and optimal approaches are used for improving irrigation water efficiency, energy saving and crop productivity and mitigating economic losses from water scarcity.

This Special Issue calls for contributions on sustainable water management in irrigated agriculture, irrigation scheduling, crop allocation, crop production under full and deficit irrigation and optimal design of irrigation networks and on-farm irrigation systems. In addition, studies and best practices on irrigation use efficiency, economic solutions and policy measures for improving crop water productivity and environmental sustainability are also welcome.

Prof. Dr. Pantazis Georgiou
Dr. Dimitris Karpouzos
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Agronomy is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • sustainable water management and SDGs
  • water and energy saving
  • water scarcity and climate change
  • crop water requirements and irrigation scheduling
  • irrigation methods and systems—irrigation efficiency
  • crop water productivity
  • optimal irrigation networks—modern optimization methods
  • smart irrigation and IoT

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

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18 pages, 8645 KiB  
Article
Optimization of Winter Irrigation under Freeze–Thaw Conditions: A Case Study of the Yellow River Delta, China
by Yuyang Shan, Ge Li, Yungang Bai, Qiuping Fu, Yan Sun, Lijun Su, Weiyi Mu and Hongbo Liu
Agronomy 2023, 13(7), 1743; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/agronomy13071743 - 28 Jun 2023
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Abstract
Optimal winter irrigation may be an alternative method for controlling soil salinization under seasonal freezing and thawing conditions in the Yellow River Delta. However, few studies have focused on optimal winter irrigation based on the dynamics of soil water, heat, and salt during [...] Read more.
Optimal winter irrigation may be an alternative method for controlling soil salinization under seasonal freezing and thawing conditions in the Yellow River Delta. However, few studies have focused on optimal winter irrigation based on the dynamics of soil water, heat, and salt during the freezing–thawing period in this region. Taking the seedling stage of winter wheat in the Yellow River Delta as the research object and using observation data of hydrothermal salt from the Shandong agricultural high-tech demonstration base from 17 October 2019 to 15 June 2021, a numerical simulation of the hydrothermal coupling process of freeze–thaw soil in the experimental area was carried out through the Simultaneous Heat and Water Model (SHAW). The simulation results of the model were evaluated according to the mean error (ME), root mean square error (RMSE), and Nash efficiency coefficient (NSE). The results showed that the SHAW can well simulate the soil moisture (SM), soil temperature, and soil salt during the growth of winter wheat in this region: the SM at the depth of 0–80 cm with an ME < 0.038 cm3 cm−3, RMSE < 0.064 cm3 cm−3, and NSE > 0.669; the soil temperature with an ME < 1.311 °C, RMSE < 1.493 °C, and NSE > 0.738; and the soil salinity with an ME < 0.005 g kg−1, RMSE < 0.014 g kg−1, and NSE > 0.607. Moreover, the model was used to simulate the distribution of soil water and salt in the winter wheat seedling stage under different winter irrigation methods during wet, normal, and dry years. It was suggested that the appropriate winter irrigation amount was 80 mm in wet years and normal years and 100 mm in dry years, which could be beneficial to winter wheat growth during the seedling stage. These results provide a reference for irrigation optimization in the Yellow River Delta and other similar areas. Full article
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31 pages, 6586 KiB  
Article
Optimal Pollution Control and Pump-and-Fertilize Strategies in a Nitro-Polluted Aquifer, Using Genetic Algorithms and Modflow
by Yiannis N. Kontos, Ioakeim Rompis and Dimitrios Karpouzos
Agronomy 2023, 13(6), 1534; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/agronomy13061534 - 31 May 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1384
Abstract
Nitro-pollution in a confined aquifer may originate from its recharge area, e.g., agricultural sites, animal feedlots, septic tanks, and other waste disposal sites or from treated wastewater recharge wells. The latter case is studied. Existing water supply pumping wells should be protected for [...] Read more.
Nitro-pollution in a confined aquifer may originate from its recharge area, e.g., agricultural sites, animal feedlots, septic tanks, and other waste disposal sites or from treated wastewater recharge wells. The latter case is studied. Existing water supply pumping wells should be protected for a given period. Instead of typically investigating optimal pump-and-treat or hydrodynamic pollution control management/remediation strategies, a novel combined pollution control and pump-and-fertilize (PAF) approach is proposed: protect existing wells with additional wells, considering pumped nitro-polluted groundwater as profitable reusable fertilizer rather than a pollutant to be remediated; convey pumped polluted water to an irrigation reservoir, considering nitrogen (N) uptake by irrigated crops in nearby farmlands and proportional decrease in fertilizer application, meaning profit. Optimization entails the operation of optimally located additional pumping wells with optimal flow rates, minimizing the sum of (i) annual pumping cost, (ii) pipe network (connecting additional wells and reservoir) amortization cost, and (iii) profit from retrieved N reuse. Modflow simulates a 3D flow field and advection-dispersion mass transport, while Genetic Algorithms (GAs) handle optimization. Various scenarios are simulated concerning crops’ retrieved N root uptake percentage, fertilizer, and energy market prices. The paper provides a data-ready optimization/decision support tool that creates a pool of alternative (sub)optimal management solutions/strategies. Full article
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Review

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16 pages, 1926 KiB  
Review
Assessing Climate Change Impacts on Irrigation Water Requirements under Mediterranean Conditions—A Review of the Methodological Approaches Focusing on Maize Crop
by Daniela Soares, Teresa A. Paço and João Rolim
Agronomy 2023, 13(1), 117; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/agronomy13010117 - 29 Dec 2022
Cited by 10 | Viewed by 2560
Abstract
Climate change is a challenging fact influencing diverse sectors in society including the agricultural one, which is heavily dependent on natural resources and climate. In the Mediterranean region, climate change-related increases in air temperature, and in the frequency and intensity of extreme weather [...] Read more.
Climate change is a challenging fact influencing diverse sectors in society including the agricultural one, which is heavily dependent on natural resources and climate. In the Mediterranean region, climate change-related increases in air temperature, and in the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events, such as droughts, boost the pressure on the agricultural systems and affect crop yield potential. The growth of the world population implies that production needs to increase in a sustainable manner. Therefore, this study focuses on the maize crop due to its importance for food security and because it is a crop with significant water consumption that occupies a large worldwide area. In order to study climate change impacts on crop production, plant water requirements, and provide farmers guidelines helping them to adapt, it is necessary to simultaneously evaluate a large number of factors. For this reason, modelling tools are normally used to measure the future impact of climate change on crop yield by using historical and future climate data. This review focuses on climate change impacts on maize crop irrigation requirements and compares—by means of critical analysis—existing approaches that allow for the building a set of mitigation and adaptation measures throughout the study of climate. Full article
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