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Agronomy
Special Issues
Assessment and Mapping of Soil Water Balance
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Assessment and Mapping of Soil Water Balance

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 September 2024 | Viewed by 1439

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Hanaa Darouich

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
LEAF – Linking Landscape, Environment, Agriculture and Food Research Center, Associated Laboratory TERRA, Instituto Superior de Agronomia, Universidade de Lisboa, 1349-017 Lisbon, Portugal
Interests: crop water requirements; irrigation systems design; irrigation methods; multicriteria analysis; soil water balance modeling
Dr. Tiago Brito Ramos

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Centro de Ciência e Tecnologia do Ambiente e do Mar (MARETEC-LARSyS), Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, 1, 1049-001 Lisboa, Portugal
Interests: modeling soil water dynamics and solute transport in the vadose zone
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Accurate knowledge of the soil water balance at the plot scale is fundamental for improving crop water productivity, implementing water saving measures, and minimizing the diffused pollution risks associated with inefficient management. At the field scale, the assessment of the spatial distribution of the soil water balance is vital for precision agriculture. At the irrigation district scale, it may lead to significative water savings.

This Special Issue will focus on the “Assessment and Mapping of Soil Water Balance”. We are open to novel research, reviews, and opinion articles covering all aspects of the soil water balance at the plot and field scales, including estimating crop water requirements; using models, lysimeters, and proximal and remote sensors; assessing full and deficit irrigation strategies and water productivity indicators, the relationships between soil water and crop yields, and strategies to cope with environmental stressors (e.g., water deficit and soil salinity); and developing decision support systems for farmers support. Contributions of new developments and applications at different scales (plot, field, and irrigation district) will be welcomed.

Dr. Hanaa Darouich
Dr. Tiago Brito Ramos
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

  • crop water requirements
  • evapotranspiration
  • irrigation strategies
  • lysimeters
  • mechanistic and soil water balance models
  • multicriteria analysis
  • remote sensing
  • unmanned aerial vehicle
  • water productivity
  • water savings

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

21 pages, 1095 KiB  
Article
Optimizing Crop Water Productivity in Greenhouse Pepper
by Susana Zapata-García, Abdelmalek Temnani, Pablo Berríos, Pedro J. Espinosa, Claudia Monllor and Alejandro Pérez-Pastor
Agronomy 2024, 14(5), 902; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/agronomy14050902 (registering DOI) - 25 Apr 2024
Viewed by 239
Abstract
Although advanced production systems have been developed in the last 20 years, water scarcity is still a growing problem in agriculture. This study aims to evaluate the effect of different strategies that combine the application of seaweed and microbial biostimulants with regulated deficit [...] Read more.
Although advanced production systems have been developed in the last 20 years, water scarcity is still a growing problem in agriculture. This study aims to evaluate the effect of different strategies that combine the application of seaweed and microbial biostimulants with regulated deficit irrigation (RDI) strategies on the irrigation water productivity (WPI), fruit quality parameters and soil enzymatic activity in pepper plants (Capsicum annum sp.) under two commercial greenhouse conditions. In each trial, two treatments were applied: (i) irrigation according to Farmer criteria without biostimulant applications and (ii) a combined treatment of RDI and the same biostimulation program, composed of Bacillus paralicheniformis and Ascophillum nodosum extracts. RDI was applied in different phenological stages in each greenhouse after the establishment until the 1st harvest in trial 1 or during the ripening and harvest period in trial 2. On average, the irrigation was reduced by 600 m3 ha−1 compared to the Farmer irrigation schedule. In both trials, biostimulation promoted an increase in fruit numbers, punctually in trial 1, leading to yield precocity, or generally in trial 2, obtaining a higher yield. Globally, WPI was increased when RDI was combined with biostimulation. This combined treatment also enhanced the root water absorption and improved the soil enzymatic activity in both greenhouses, suggesting that nutrients in the soil would become more available to plants. Thus, the combined action of biostimulation under different RDI strategies has been proved to be a useful strategy to improve agricultural sustainability. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Assessment and Mapping of Soil Water Balance)
20 pages, 5059 KiB  
Article
Setting Irrigation Thresholds for Building a Platform Aimed at the Improved Management of Citrus Orchards in Coastal Syria
by Hanaa Darouich, Razan Karfoul, Tiago B. Ramos and Luís S. Pereira
Agronomy 2023, 13(7), 1794; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/agronomy13071794 - 04 Jul 2023
Viewed by 796
Abstract
Citrus is one of the most valuable crops in Syria, with the largest production areas being in the coastal provinces of Tartus and Latakia, where this study was performed. A companion paper reported on the basal crop coefficients derived from the field water [...] Read more.
Citrus is one of the most valuable crops in Syria, with the largest production areas being in the coastal provinces of Tartus and Latakia, where this study was performed. A companion paper reported on the basal crop coefficients derived from the field water balance and on the performance assessment of various irrigation methods used in a citrus orchard located in the same region. That study evidenced the need for the improved management of irrigation water, mainly reducing water applications and increasing productivity, thus leading to the current research. The main objectives consisted of (i) providing a set of reliable basal (Kcb) and average (Kc) crop coefficients to be used in practice in the citrus orchards of the Syrian coastal area, while accounting for the diversity of characteristics observed; (ii) to estimate the seasonal consumptive use of typical orchards under different climate-demand and deficit-irrigation scenarios; and (iii) to assess possible water savings and related yield reductions. The previously calibrated water balance model SIMDualKc was used for these purposes. The computed Kcb values for the mid-season and average demand for water ranged from 0.52, when the plant density was low, to 0.84, when plant density was very high. The corresponding Kc values, which further reflected the impact of drip irrigation on controlling soil evaporation, were 0.72 and 0.97, respectively. Overall, the consumptive use of water was estimated to range from 867 to 1573 mm. The assessed water-saving scenarios consisted of adopting increased management-allowed depletion (MAD) thresholds relative to the p depletion fraction for no stress: MAD = 1.05, 1.10, 1.20, and 1.30 p. For trees under a very high climatic demand, water savings ranged from 12 to 34%, but the yield losses induced by the water deficits ranged from 8 to 48%. Although the selection of optimal strategies should be based upon economic terms, these may only be used when the Syrian economy recovers from civil war and the current crisis. The present results show the feasibility of adopting such MAD thresholds for building an irrigation management platform. The data provided by the current study are valuable because they can be efficiently used to support of the irrigation management of Syrian citrus production systems. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Assessment and Mapping of Soil Water Balance)
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