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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 November 2023) | Viewed by 51417

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Antonella Lavini

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Institute for Agricultural and Forestry Systems in the Mediterranean (ISAFOM), National Research Council of Italy (CNR), 80055 Portici, NA, Italy
Interests: sustainable agronomic management; soil quality; alternative crops; water stress; salinity stress; agronomy; herbaceous crops; quinoa; amaranth
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Dr. Mohamed Houssemeddine Sellami

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Department of Agricultural Sciences, University of Naples, 80055 Portici, Italy
Interests: irrigation agronomy; alternative crops; legume breeding; protein crops; proximal sensing; abiotic stresses; water management in agriculture
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Climate change threatens to increase food insecurity and exacerbate water scarcity in arid and semi-arid regions, which are home to some of the poorest waters in the world. Essentially, the effects of this change will appear on the water sector in the form of low water quantity and will cause an increase in crop demand for water, an increase in dryland, and a loss of biodiversity. In the context of water conservation in the agricultural sector, a set of integrated interventions from sustainable agronomical practices, such as regulated deficit irrigation, minimum tillage, biostimulants, and organic amendments, are required in order to save water and enhance efficiency and productivity of agricultural water use.

In this Special Issue, we aim to focus on new and smart approaches to increase efficient water-saving systems for crops, as well as on strategies for enhancing water productivity and to reduce water consumption.

Dr. Antonella Lavini
Dr. Mohamed Houssemeddine Sellami
Guest Editors

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Keywords

deficit irrigation
minimum tillage
biostimulants
sludge
wastewater
mulching
crop residues
organic amendments

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Published Papers (10 papers)

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Research

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16 pages, 1754 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Biostimulant Application Alleviates the Negative Effects of Deficit Irrigation and Improves Growth Performance, Essential Oil Yield and Water-Use Efficiency of Mint Crop

by Christina Chaski, Kyriakos D. Giannoulis, Alexios A. Alexopoulos and Spyridon A. Petropoulos

Agronomy 2023, 13(8), 2182; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy13082182 - 21 Aug 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1750

Abstract

The scarcity of water is limiting crop production and is one of the most important stressors that severely affects crop yield, and it may also decrease the quality of the final products. Most of the medicinal and aromatic plants are considered resilient to water stress and constitute a sustainable choice for crop production in arid and semiarid conditions. In the present study, we examined the effect of scheduled deficit irrigation (e.g., I1: 40% of field capacity); I2: 70% of field capacity; and I3: 100% of field capacity) combined with biostimulant application (four different products that consisted of nitrogenous compounds and carboxylic acids (M1); nitrogenous compounds and seaweed extracts (M2); humic and fulvic acids and seaweed extracts (M3); and CaO, SiO₂, calcium mobilization and translocation factor and microminerals (M4)) on crop performance and essential oil production of mint plants (Mentha arvensis L.). Our aim was to define an irrigation regime that increases water-use efficiency and the biostimulant products that alleviate water stress effects. Our results indicate that moderate deficit irrigation (I2 treatment) and biostimulants that contained seaweed extracts and nitrogenous compounds and humic and fulvic acids (M2 and M3 treatments, respectively) significantly improved yield parameters in terms of fresh and dry herb yield and essential oil production. Moreover, the same biostimulant treatments significantly increased water-use efficiency of mint crops based on the various yield parameters tested in this study. In conclusion, our results indicate that selection of proper biostimulatory products may allow to apply deficit irrigation regimes in mint cultivation without compromising the crop performance in terms of both biomass production and essential oil yield. Therefore, the combination of these agronomic tools could facilitate water saving strategies in arid and semiarid regions and contribute to the sustainable management of water resources. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Agronomical Practices for Saving Water Supply)

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14 pages, 2532 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Adaptabilities of Water Production Function Models for Rice in Cold and Black Soil Region of China

by Tangzhe Nie, Dehao Lu, Zhongxue Zhang, Hua Yang, Zhenping Gong, Peng Chen, Tiecheng Li, Yanyu Lin, Mengxue Wang, Chong Du, Changlei Dai and Thusitha Weerasooriya

Agronomy 2022, 12(12), 2931; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy12122931 - 23 Nov 2022

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1490

Abstract

Crop water production function models (WPFMs) are required methods to study the relationships between yield and water consumption under regulated deficit irrigation (RDI). In this study, a pot experiment was established to study the effect of water deficit during both individual growth stages and across two consecutive growth stages of rice on yield, water consumption, and water use efficiency (WUE) in 2017 and 2018. Light, medium, and severe water deficits were set as 80~90%, 70~80%, and 60~70% of saturated soil moisture content, respectively. The accuracies of five WPFMs were tested based on the experimental results. The results showed that yields and WUE of a light water deficit were higher than those of medium and severe water deficits at each growth stage. The yields and WUE of light drought stress treatments in the flowering and milky stages were higher than the saturated soil moisture control by 4~7.4% and 5.3~20.6%, respectively. Water consumption decreased with increasing water deficit across two consecutive growth stages. The Minhas model had the highest simulation accuracy of the five WPFMs, with relatively lower AE, RMSE, C_v, CRM, and higher R², which were 0.0002, 0.0634, 6.9965, 0.0002, and 0.9951 in 2017 and 0.0110, 0.0760, 8.9882, 0.0131, and 0.9923 in 2018, respectively. The sensitivity indices for the Minhas model more accurately reflected the sensitivity of rice yield to water deficit at different growth stages in 2017 and 2018, compared with the Jensen model, Stewart model, Blank model, and Singh model. Rice yield was most sensitive to water deficit at the jointing and booting stage. The results indicate that the Minhas model is the most suitable WPFM for guiding rice irrigation practices in cold and black soil regions of China. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Agronomical Practices for Saving Water Supply)

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18 pages, 1793 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Assessing the Effect of Irrigation Using Different Water Resources on Characteristics of Mild Cadmium-Contaminated Soil and Tomato Quality

by Jiaxin Cui, Ping Li, Xuebin Qi, Wei Guo and Shafeeq Ur Rahman

Agronomy 2022, 12(11), 2721; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy12112721 - 2 Nov 2022

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1797

Abstract

As the world economy and society have developed quickly, the amount of farmland soil pollution has become alarming, which has seriously threatened global food security. It is necessary to take effective measures on the moderately contaminated soil to produce high-quality food and to protect food security worldwide by effective use of land resources. Our experimental design was to study the changes in soil physicochemical properties and tomato yield and quality indicators by irrigating tomatoes on cadmium-contaminated soil with two different water qualities (reclaimed water irrigation: RW; tap water irrigation: TW) through drip irrigation devices. Tomato quality indicators were determined using plant physiological assays, as well as vitamin C (VC), total acidity (TA), protein content (PC), and soluble sugar content (SS). We tested five different types of cadmium-contaminated soils (less than 0.60 mg/kg, 0.60–1.20 mg/kg, 1.20–1.80 mg/kg, 1.80–2.40 mg/kg, 2.40–3.00 mg/kg) against RW and TW, and performed high-throughput sequencing of the soils to obtain environmental results for soil microbial diversity. The results reveal that compared with the TW condition, soil nutritional status was increased with the irrigated RW. The yield of the tomatoes increased by 52.03–94.03% than TW. The results of the study showed significant and highly significant relationships between tomato quality indicators (TA, SS, yield) and soil physical and chemical properties indicators (p < 0.01, 0.05). For instance, the RW increased the SOM by 6.54–12.13%, the TP by 0.48–24.73%, the yield of the tomatoes by 52.03–94.03% than TW, while the cadmium content did not show significant differences (p < 0.05), and the cadmium content did not increase the soil’s pollution level. Compared with TW treatment, RW treatment alleviated the inhibition of soil microbial diversity by cadmium and RW also increased its soil microbial diversity. The relative abundance of Proteobacteria, Gemmatimonadetes, and Bacteroidetes in the RW condition were higher than in the TW condition at different cadmium concentrations. In conclusion, RW improved the overall quality conditions of soil and the diversity of microbial communities, and did not aggravate the pollution degree of cadmium-contaminated soil, and affected the yield of tomatoes positively. RW can be an effective irrigation technique to reduce the use of clean water. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Agronomical Practices for Saving Water Supply)

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28 pages, 8040 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Pruning and Water Saving Management Effects on Mango High-Density and Mature Orchards

by Federico Hahn, Salvador Valle and Carmen Navarro-Gómez

Agronomy 2022, 12(11), 2623; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy12112623 - 25 Oct 2022

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 4212

Abstract

Water is getting scarce and irrigation practices should become more efficient. Mango orchards require great quantities of water, and policies in developing countries are substituting surface gravity irrigation by pressurized systems. A commercial orchard having mature 25-year-old trees and a 10-year-old HD high-density section were irrigated with micro sprinklers using 100% ETc (crop evapotranspiration) and reduced deficit irrigation treatments of 75% and 50% ETc. Water soil measurements were made with EC-5 probes at 10 and 35 cm in depth to study the effect of the different irrigation treatments. After the 2020 harvest, mature trees were trimmed without achieving pruning severity greater than 1.3. Canopy volume, mango size, fruit yield and water-use efficiency WUE were analyzed during 2020 and 2021. Sporadic storms produced sprinkler watering problems as weeds proliferated within trees. A controller with a fuzzy algorithm optimized orchard management and saved water in trees without decreasing yield and fruit size. It was found that one year after mature trees were trimmed by taking away the larger internal branch, more light penetrated the canopy, increasing yield by 60%; pruning in HD trees presented a yield increase of 5.37%. WUE (water-use efficiency) also increased with pruning and its value increased to 87.6 when the fuzzy controller and the 50% DI treatments were used in mature trees. This value was 260% greater than the one obtained in pruned trees without the controller. HD trees presented a lower WUE and yield per hectare than mature trees. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Agronomical Practices for Saving Water Supply)

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19 pages, 5055 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Analysis of the Expansion Characteristics and Carrying Capacity of Oasis Farmland in Northwestern China in Recent 40 Years

by Bofei Li, Dongwei Gui, Dongping Xue, Yunfei Liu, Zeeshan Ahmed and Jiaqiang Lei

Agronomy 2022, 12(10), 2448; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy12102448 - 9 Oct 2022

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 1913

Abstract

An oasis is a unique landscape that fuels human subsistence and socioeconomic development in the desert ecosystem. However, the overexpansion of oases, especially farmlands, poses severe threats to available land and water resources. This study aims to assess the expansion levels, carrying capacity dynamics, and planting structure optimization to maximize economic returns in northwest China’s five Typical Oasis Groups (5TOGs) using uniform data sources, time scales, and methods. Satellite products and a water-heat balance model were used to evaluate the changes in the area and carrying capacity dynamics of the 5TOGs. A linear programming approach was used to optimize each oasis’s cropping structure for the carrying level scenario. The results showed that the area of 5TOGs has expanded from 1980–2020, and the increment of oasis farmland is the main driver of oasis expansion. The most dramatic expansion of oases and their farmlands occurred during 2010–2020. As a consequence, the carrying capacity of each oasis is deteriorating with this expansion. The additional water resources to support this expansion of the oases and their farmlands come from groundwater, which is declining rapidly. Based on the optimized planting structure, cotton remains the main crop in Xinjiang oases with more than 60% area, the cotton area should be reduced in the Hotan River Oases, and the planting structure of the Heihe River Oasis will remain unchanged. The findings of this study have provided a quantitative analysis of oasis expansion and planting structure optimization, which have practical implications for water resource management and sustainable development of agriculture to maintain the stability of the oasis ecosystem. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Agronomical Practices for Saving Water Supply)

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22 pages, 5142 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Determining Irrigation Volumes for Enhancing Profit and N Uptake Efficiency of Potato Using WASH_2D Model

by Shuoshuo Liang, Hassan M. Abd El Baki, Ping An and Haruyuki Fujimaki

Agronomy 2022, 12(10), 2372; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy12102372 - 30 Sep 2022

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1812

Abstract

Soaring food prices and the intensified scarcity of water resources put a new emphasis on efficient use of water in irrigation. Numerical models for water flow and crop growth can be used to predict crop water stress and make decisions on irrigation management. To this end, a new irrigation scheme was presented to determine the optimum irrigation depths using WASH_2D, a numerical model of water flow and solute transport in soils and crop growth. By using freely available quantitative weather forecasts and volumetric water price as input data to predict soil water flow and give the recommendation of irrigation depths which maximizes net income during each irrigation interval. Field experiments using potato were conducted for two-seasons in a sandy soil in Japan under three irrigation methods, i.e., using the simulation model named treatment “S” (to distinguish, named S1 in first season and S2 in second season), automatic irrigation method using soil moisture sensors named treatment “A”, and refilling irrigation management supplying 100% consumed water named treatment “R”. To compare S with other two treatments, S1 and A was conducted in the first season, then S2 and R was conducted in the second season. Results showed that S1 improved potato yield by 19%, and reduced water by 28%, resulting in an increased net income by 19% compared with A in the first season. There was no significant difference when compared with R in the second season, which was mainly due to the frequent rainfall during second growing season. In addition, S improved the nitrogen uptake efficiency (NU_PE) by 39% and 11% compared with A and R, respectively. The simulated values of water content were in fair agreement with those measured in the root zone. In short, simulated irrigation method was effective in improving yield, saving water and increasing NU_PE of potato compared with automatic and refilling irrigation methods in sandy field. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Agronomical Practices for Saving Water Supply)

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16 pages, 1047 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Physiological, Anatomical, and Agronomic Responses of Cucurbita pepo to Exogenously Sprayed Potassium Silicate at Different Concentrations under Varying Water Regimes

by Enas S. Azab, Khalid S. Alshallash, Mesfer M. Alqahtani, Fatmah A. Safhi, Salha M. ALshamrani, Mohamed A. M. Ali, Taia A. Abd El-Mageed and Ahmed M. El-Taher

Agronomy 2022, 12(9), 2155; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy12092155 - 10 Sep 2022

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 1829

Abstract

Drought is one of the major environmental stresses that devastatingly impact squash development, growth, and productivity. Potassium silicate can attenuate the injuries caused by water stress. Hence, this study was designed to investigate the influence of three concentrations of potassium silicate; 10, 15, and 20 g/L on squash plants versus untreated control under three irrigation regimes; 100, 75, and 50% of estimated crop evapotranspiration (ET). The obtained results indicated that moderate (75% ET) or severe (50% ET) drought stress conditions gradually declined photosynthetic pigments, relative water content (RWC), mineral content, physiological parameters, and anatomical characteristics. These deleterious impacts were reflected on all growth and yield traits, i.e., plant height, fresh and dry weight of root and shoot, and fruit yield. On the other hand, the antioxidant enzyme activities; superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), and peroxidase (POX) significantly increased under severe drought stress at 50% ET followed by 75% ET. However, all evaluated exogenous applications of potassium silicate substantially enhanced photosynthetic pigments, RWC, N, P, and K content, antioxidant enzyme activities, and anatomical characters (periderm thickness, cortex thickness, midrib thickness, mesophyll thickness, number of xylem vessels per main vascular bundle, thickness of vascular bundle, thickness of collenchymatous tissue and upper epidermis, and thickness of collenchymatous tissue and lower epidermis). These desirable impacts were reflected in enhancing all growth and yield parameters. Conclusively, this study alludes that the exogenously applied of potassium silicate, particularly at 20 g/L, can alleviate the deleterious effects of drought stress and enhance the growth and productivity of squash plants, especially in arid environments. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Agronomical Practices for Saving Water Supply)

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12 pages, 1957 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperArticle

Comprehensive Assessment of Plant and Water Productivity Responses in Negative Pressure Irrigation Technology: A Meta-Analysis

by Yuwen Jin, Xiang Gao, Renlian Zhang, Xueping Wu, Huaiyu Long, Zhimei Sun and Shuxiang Zhang

Agronomy 2022, 12(8), 1925; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy12081925 - 15 Aug 2022

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2109

Abstract

Negative pressure irrigation (NPI) is an important water management strategy that can improve crop yields and water use efficiency (WUE). However, because NPI is affected by vital factors, such as negative pressure values, soil properties, and fertilization dosages, there is a lack of systematic analyses of the application effects of NPI on various crops. Hence, this study collected the results of 44 published studies and established the validity of 142 crop yields, 121 WUEs, 138 crop qualities, and 138 crop nutrient statuses in a database for NPI systems. The meta-analysis method was used to analyze NPI in comparison to conventional irrigation (CI) conditions. The results showed that the NPI yields and WUEs significantly improved by 17% and 63% compared to those of CI, respectively. Meanwhile, the negative pressure values were −2~−5 kPa; the improvement effects on yields were the best; and the WUEs exhibited the highest performance with negative pressure values of −6~−10 kPa. NPI promoted crop quality and plant nutrient uptakes under the appropriate NPI conditions. The synergistic impacts for sandy loam, alkalescent soils, and leafy vegetables were greater than for clay loam, neutral soils, and fruit vegetables under NPI conditions. Simultaneously, it was shown that the soil available phosphorus content and application of P fertilizer have a greater impact on NPI and CI crop yields. Therefore, the meta-analysis demonstrated the impacts of NPI on crop yields, WUEs, quality, and nutrient absorption, and quantified the effects of NPI on crop growth under various conditions, which provides an important water-saving technology for greenhouse production. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Agronomical Practices for Saving Water Supply)

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Review

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18 pages, 1266 KiB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceReview

State of the Art and New Technologies to Recycle the Fertigation Effluents in Closed Soilless Cropping Systems Aiming to Maximise Water and Nutrient Use Efficiency in Greenhouse Crops

by Dimitrios Savvas, Evangelos Giannothanasis, Theodora Ntanasi, Ioannis Karavidas and Georgia Ntatsi

Agronomy 2024, 14(1), 61; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy14010061 - 26 Dec 2023

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 1546

Abstract

Inappropriate fertilisation results in the pollution of groundwater with nitrates and phosphates, eutrophication in surface water, emission of greenhouse gasses, and unwanted N deposition in natural environments, thereby harming the whole ecosystem. In greenhouses, the cultivation in closed-loop soilless culture systems (CLSs) allows for the collection and recycling of the drainage solution, thus minimising contamination of water resources by nutrient emissions originating from the fertigation effluents. Recycling of the DS represents an ecologically sound technology as it can reduce water consumption by 20–35% and fertiliser use by 40–50% in greenhouse crops, while minimising or even eliminating losses of nutrients, thereby preventing environmental pollution by NO₃⁻ and P. The nutrient supply in CLSs is largely based on the anticipated ratio between the mass of a nutrient absorbed by the crop and the volume of water, expressed as mmol L⁻¹, commonly referenced to as “uptake concentration” (UC). However, although the UCs exhibit stability over time under optimal climatic conditions, some deviations at different locations and different cropping stages can occur, leading to the accumulation or depletion of nutrients in the root zone. Although these may be small in the short term, they can reach harmful levels when summed up over longer periods, resulting in serious nutrient imbalances and crop damage. To prevent large nutrient imbalances in the root zone, the composition of the supplied nutrient solution must be frequently readjusted, taking into consideration the current nutrient status in the root zone of the crop. The standard practice to estimate the current nutrient status in the root zone is to regularly collect samples of drainage solution and determine the nutrient concentrations through chemical analyses. However, as results from a chemical laboratory are available several days after sample selection, there is currently intensive research activity aiming to develop ion-selective electrodes (ISEs) for online measurement of the DS composition in real-time. Furthermore, innovative decision support systems (DSSs) fed with the analytical results transmitted either offline or online can substantially contribute to timely and appropriate readjustments of the nutrient supply using as feedback information the current nutrient status in the root zone. The purpose of the present paper is to review the currently applied technologies for nutrient and water recycling in CLSs, as well as the new trends based on ISEs and novel DSSs. Furthermore, a specialised DSS named NUTRISENSE, which can contribute to more efficient management of nutrient supply and salt accumulation in closed-loop soilless cultivations, is presented. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Agronomical Practices for Saving Water Supply)

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31 pages, 43506 KiB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceReview

Mulching as a Sustainable Water and Soil Saving Practice in Agriculture: A Review

by Hossam S. El-Beltagi, Abdul Basit, Heba I. Mohamed, Iftikhar Ali, Sana Ullah, Ehab A. R. Kamel, Tarek A. Shalaby, Khaled M. A. Ramadan, Abdulmalik A. Alkhateeb and Hesham S. Ghazzawy

Agronomy 2022, 12(8), 1881; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy12081881 - 10 Aug 2022

Cited by 100 | Viewed by 31370

Abstract

This research was carried out in order to demonstrate that mulching the ground helps to conserve water, because agricultural sustainability in dryland contexts is threatened by drought, heat stress, and the injudicious use of scarce water during the cropping season by minimizing surface evaporation. Improving soil moisture conservation is an ongoing priority in crop outputs where water resources are restricted and controlled. One of the reasons for the desire to use less water in agriculture is the rising demand brought on by the world’s growing population. In this study, the use of organic or biodegradable mulches was dominated by organic materials, while inorganic mulches are mostly comprised of plastic-based components. Plastic film, crop straw, gravel, volcanic ash, rock pieces, sand, concrete, paper pellets, and livestock manures are among the materials put on the soil surface. Mulching has several essential applications, including reducing soil water loss and soil erosion, enriching soil fauna, and improving soil properties and nutrient cycling in the soil. It also reduces the pH of the soil, which improves nutrient availability. Mulching reduces soil deterioration by limiting runoff and soil loss, and it increases soil water availability by reducing evaporation, managing soil temperature, or reducing crop irrigation requirements. This review paper extensively discusses the benefits of organic or synthetic mulches for crop production, as well as the uses of mulching in soil and water conservation. As a result, it is very important for farmers to choose mulching rather than synthetic applications. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Agronomical Practices for Saving Water Supply)

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