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Agronomy
Special Issues
Irrigation Strategies in Sustainable Agriculture
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Irrigation Strategies in Sustainable Agriculture

A special issue of Agronomy (ISSN 2073-4395). This special issue belongs to the section "Farming Sustainability".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2020) | Viewed by 39527

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Christos A. Dordas

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Guest Editor
Laboratory of Agronomy, School of Agriculture, Faculty of Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Environment, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 54124 Thessaloniki, Greece
Interests: cropping systems; intercropping; sustainable agriculture; ecological intensification; response of plants to abiotic stress; climate change; bioeconomy; sustainable utilization of resources; precision agriculture; phenotyping
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Pantazis E. Georgiou

E-Mail Website
Co-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

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Water availability is one of the most important problems in modern agriculture. Moreover, climate change and the related scenarios that are proposed show that water availability will be a serious problem for many countries in the next years, especially in countries where water resources are limited. The economic losses in the cultivation of most crops due to water stress are quite significant, and a better water management can help to conserve water and to use it more efficiently. This Special Issue calls for contributions on crop water requirements, response of crops to water deficiency, irrigation scheduling, and all practices that increase water productivity, such as advanced irrigation techniques, improved agronomic practices, optimized irrigation water management, selection of new crop genotypes, and many more. In addition, studies on optimal design, efficiency, and selection of irrigation methods, economic solutions, and policy measures for improving crop water productivity are also welcome.

Prof. Christos Dordas
Assoc. Prof. Pantazis E. Georgiou
Guest Editor

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
  • Water Conservation
  • Water Scarcity and Climate Change
  • Crop Water Requirements and Irrigation Scheduling
  • Irrigation Methods and Practices
  • Irrigation Efficiency–Water Productivity
  • Water quality
  • Crop Yield and Water Consumption
  • Agronomic Practices
  • Smart Farming and Irrigation

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Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

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13 pages, 5990 KiB  
Article
Effect of Irrigation on Intercropping Systems of Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) with Pea (Pisum sativum L.)
by Chrysanthi Pankou, Anastasios Lithourgidis and Christos Dordas
Agronomy 2021, 11(2), 283; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy11020283 - 3 Feb 2021
Cited by 17 | Viewed by 4519
Abstract
Intercropping is an old and commonly used agricultural practice and involves the cultivation of two or more crops in the same area of land at the same time and may improve yield, the use of the environmental resources, product quality, and soil health. [...] Read more.
Intercropping is an old and commonly used agricultural practice and involves the cultivation of two or more crops in the same area of land at the same time and may improve yield, the use of the environmental resources, product quality, and soil health. The objective of the present study was to study the effect of water availability of wheat-pea intercrops using agronomic and physiological characteristics. The experiment was conducted at the farm of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece during two growing seasons 2017–2018 and 2018–2019 using two different cultivars from pea (Isard and Olympos) and wheat (Yecora E and Elissavet) and two irrigation regimes. The availability of water increased grain yield and affected most of the characteristics that were studied. In terms of total Land Equivalent Ratio (LER) there was a yield advantage of intercrops over monocrops, which indicates the efficiency of intercropping for using the environmental resources. Both wheat cultivars, the pea cultivar Olympos and their intercrops indicated high adaptation capacity to rainfed conditions, whereas Isard and its intercrops performed better under irrigation. Therefore, the intercropping of wheat with pea uses the water resources of the environment more efficiently and can be used in dry land conditions for higher yield. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Irrigation Strategies in Sustainable Agriculture)
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16 pages, 3173 KiB  
Article
Sustainability Performance through Technology Adoption: A Case Study of Land Leveling in a Paddy Field
by Juan Quirós-Vargas, Thiago Libório Romanelli, Uwe Rascher and José Agüero
Agronomy 2020, 10(11), 1681; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy10111681 - 29 Oct 2020
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 2819
Abstract
Energy is required in all agricultural activities. Diagramming material flows needed by crop production systems supports the proper analysis of energy flows interactions within a system’s boundaries. The latter complemented with an economic analysis gives a clear view of how beneficial a new [...] Read more.
Energy is required in all agricultural activities. Diagramming material flows needed by crop production systems supports the proper analysis of energy flows interactions within a system’s boundaries. The latter complemented with an economic analysis gives a clear view of how beneficial a new practice within a crop cycle is—in this case, the variable slope (VS) land leveling (LL) operation. VS is a global navigation satellite system (GNSS, with real time kinematics—RTK—accuracy) LL technique used to create a smooth continuous surface with a constant slope, by cutting and filling topsoil layers only in those points presenting “anomalies” of micro-relief which make the movement of water difficult. This operation is important for paddy production since: (i) it enables to crop during dry seasons by harnessing the water of rivers and wells, and (ii) improves the production during rainy seasons, by allowing the farmer to manage the drainage timely and homogeneously. The present study aims to analyze, from the energy perspective, the effects of the VS leveling implementation in a paddy field (located in the Costa Rican Pacific), throughout input (labor, gas oil, etc.) and output (yield and price) data of five consecutive years (2011–2015). A material flow diagram was created representing two scenarios: before and after leveling the land. The materials were converted into energy (MJ ha−1) data, used for the estimation of EROI (energy return on investment), EP (energy productivity) and EB (energy balance) indices, while looking for a clearer understanding of the LL impact on the use of energy within the agroecosystem. Moreover, in order to complement the energy perspective, an economic point of view was considered as well through a profitability analysis where the total gain obtained over the years with LL was compared with that obtained without LL. Results showed that the increase in energy consumed by incorporating VS leveling is compensated by the gradual increase of energy embodied in yield, increasing energy balance (EB) from 26,192 MJ ha−1 up to 91,166 MJ ha−1. Similarly, EROI and EP were duplicated with LL. Economic total gain after incorporating the VS increased from less than 500 USD ha−1 up to 1800 USD ha−1 in the third year after leveling. Yield is more affected under adverse weather conditions with irregular water supply, either limited or excessive; and effects are less pronounced when the yield limiting factor is associated with biotic stress unrelated to irrigation and drainage facts. An environmental positive impact should also be noted, since VS allowed the production benefits of having highly-efficient irrigation and drainage systems, while avoiding major damage to topsoil layers. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Irrigation Strategies in Sustainable Agriculture)
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21 pages, 871 KiB  
Article
Effect of Water Stress on the Physiological Characteristics of Five Basil (Ocimum basilicum L.) Cultivars
by Iakovos Kalamartzis, George Menexes, Pantazis Georgiou and Christos Dordas
Agronomy 2020, 10(7), 1029; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy10071029 - 16 Jul 2020
Cited by 19 | Viewed by 4814
Abstract
Water stress in one of the most important abiotic stresses that affects the productivity of many crop species worldwide. In addition, the climate change creates new challenges for crop adaptation especially as water resources become limited and the increase in water stress becomes [...] Read more.
Water stress in one of the most important abiotic stresses that affects the productivity of many crop species worldwide. In addition, the climate change creates new challenges for crop adaptation especially as water resources become limited and the increase in water stress becomes more pronounced even in areas where there is adequate water supply. The objective of the present study was to determine the effect of water stress on physiological characteristics of five cultivars of basil under field conditions. Water stress affected leaf temperature, dry herb yield, leaf water potential, assimilation rate and gas exchange parameters, quantum yield, instantaneous water use efficiency (WUE), and essential oil content. From the physiological characteristics water potential and assimilation rate can be used for the selection of basil cultivars tolerant to water stress. In addition, essential oil content was lower under water stress indicating that essential oil content is correlated with water availability. From the present study it is obvious that there are tolerant basil cultivars to water stress and can be found using physiological traits such as water potential and assimilation rate and can be used to save and use water more sustainable and also conserve the water resources. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Irrigation Strategies in Sustainable Agriculture)
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Review

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33 pages, 6041 KiB  
Review
Implementing Sustainable Irrigation in Water-Scarce Regions under the Impact of Climate Change
by Georgios Nikolaou, Damianos Neocleous, Anastasis Christou, Evangelini Kitta and Nikolaos Katsoulas
Agronomy 2020, 10(8), 1120; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy10081120 - 1 Aug 2020
Cited by 129 | Viewed by 26368
Abstract
The sustainability of irrigated agriculture is threatening due to adverse climate change, given future projections that every one in four people on Earth might be suffering from extreme water scarcity by the year 2025. Pressurized irrigation systems and appropriate irrigation schedules can increase [...] Read more.
The sustainability of irrigated agriculture is threatening due to adverse climate change, given future projections that every one in four people on Earth might be suffering from extreme water scarcity by the year 2025. Pressurized irrigation systems and appropriate irrigation schedules can increase water productivity (i.e., product yield per unit volume of water consumed by the crop) and reduce the evaporative or system loss of water as opposed to traditional surface irrigation methods. However, in water-scarce countries, irrigation management frequently becomes a complex task. Deficit irrigation and the use of non-conventional water resources (e.g., wastewater, brackish groundwater) has been adopted in many cases as part of a climate change mitigation measures to tackle the water poverty issue. Protected cultivation systems such as greenhouses or screenhouses equipped with artificial intelligence systems present another sustainable option for improving water productivity and may help to alleviate water scarcity in these countries. This article presents a comprehensive review of the literature, which deals with sustainable irrigation for open-field and protected cultivation systems under the impact of climatic change in vulnerable areas, including the Mediterranean region. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Irrigation Strategies in Sustainable Agriculture)
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