Dear Colleagues,

Water scarcity is a global issue, which is estimated be growing increasingly worse due to the decreased water availability caused by climate change. Agricultural applications comprise more than 60% of global water consumption; this proportion is occasionally more than 90% in some of the least-developed countries and developing countries. To cope with water scarcity and to ensure secure water access for the global population, improving agricultural water-use efficiency is crucial. ICID has “enable higher crop productivity with less water and energy” listed as the goal of the committee, with “Implementing Water Saving Techniques and Technologies” as one of their strategies. With the development of agricultural production, new irrigation techniques should be developed to meet different requirements, including those of open fields, greenhouses, plant factories, and hydroponics.  Additionally, with the development of applicable materials, there is potential for new equipment which can supply water more precisely and scientifically. Meanwhile, with the development of information techniques, smart irrigation technologies (developed based on real-time sensing, wireless communication, deep learning, and automatic instruments) are contributing new tools for improving the performances of irrigation systems. This Special Issue hopes to update our readership on developments in water-saving irrigation. Potential topics for submission include the following:

• Crop physiological processes linked with water use;
• Measures to regulate crop water use;
• New irrigation instruments and techniques to save water and improve water-use efficiency;
• Field water management and agronomy practices to improve water-use efficiency;
• Safe utilization of marginal water;
• Irrigation techniques for new cultivation practices (e.g., plant factories and hydroponics);
• Field/plant water status monitoring and water deficit diagnosis techniques;
• Irrigation forecasting and decision-support systems;
• Irrigation systems for precise delivery of water to crops;
• Fertigation or chemigation.

Prof. Dr. Junzeng Xu
Prof. Dr. Zheng Wei
Dr. Xiaoyin Liu
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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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. Water is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly 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.

• water-saving irrigation
• agricultural water-use efficiency
• crop productivity
• irrigation instruments and techniques
• smart irrigation
• field water management
• safety utilization of marginal water
• fertigation