Effects of Irrigation Management Practices on Growth, Yield and Fruit Quality of Horticultural and Fruit Crops in a Context of Water Scarcity

A special issue of Water (ISSN 2073-4441). This special issue belongs to the section "Water Use and Scarcity".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 25 January 2025 | Viewed by 1579

Special Issue Editors


E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Soil, Plant and Food Sciences, University of Bari ‘Aldo Moro’, Via Amendola 165/A, 70126 Bari, Italy
Interests: table grape; wine grape; fig; pomegranate; pecan; carob; olive; plant nutrition; plant irrigation; soil management; precision agriculture; agrivoltaic; biodiversity; minor fruits
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Agriculture, Food, Natural Resources and Engineering (DAFNE), University of Foggia, Via Napoli 25, 71122 Foggia, Italy
Interests: almond; apricot; olive; apple; wine grape; agricultural techniques; plant biostimulant; fertigation; deficit irrigation strategies; fruit quality; fruit bioactive compounds; local fruit germplasm
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Agricultural Engineering, Universidad Politécnica de Cartagena, Paseo Alfonso XIII 48, 30203 Cartagena, Spain
Interests: plant production; plant and soil water status; irrigation platform; sustainability; salinity
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Irrigation in arid and semi-arid areas with low or erratic rainfall is known to improve crop growth and quality, allowing farmers to till fields to create more reliable food supplies. Climate change, population growth and increasing water scarcity place pressure on food supply as most freshwater, about 70 percent on average, is used for agriculture. Even using treated wastewater and saline becomes a resource; however, the potential environmental/human risks must be evaluated. The theme of irrigation in scientific research in agriculture has become of primary importance due to problems that have emerged during recent years of water scarcity. This requires further research and the application of innovative technologies and decision-making tools to provide secure solutions that promote resilient current and future irrigation management.

The objectives of this Special Issue on The Effects of Irrigation Management Practices on Growth, Yield and Fruit Quality of Horticultural and Fruit Plants aim to:

  1. Investigate the possible interactions in a warming climate between irrigation, fertilization and/or other cultivation techniques in crops to better understand their benefits.
  2. Obtain a better understanding of the synergistic use of irrigation and biostimulants on yield and fruit quality;
  3. Apply different irrigation management techniques (e.g., regular deficit irrigation–RDI, partial drying of the root zone–PRD and water reuse) to horticultural and fruit crops;
  4. Optimize water management in crops, including the use of novel technologies (modeling, remote sensing) and tools to save water;
  5. Evaluate the management, development, and planning of water resources, including the reuse of wastewater;
  6. Consider all opportunities to implement a wide variety of adaptation techniques (from physiology to technology) to improve the irrigation management of crops in future climatic conditions.

This Special Issue offers an opportunity to gather studies and multidisciplinary approaches related to advanced technologies and innovative methodologies for irrigation management.

Different articles can be submitted, including original research papers, reviews, briefs and case reports.

Dr. Giuseppe Ferrara
Dr. Annalisa Tarantino
Prof. Dr. Alejandro Pérez-Pastor
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. 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.

Keywords

  • irrigation of crops under water scarcity scenario
  • water use efficiency
  • deficit irrigation
  • evapotranspiration models and soil-water monitoring
  • reuse of urban and agro-industrial wastewater
  • irrigation of modern high-density crops
  • use of novel technologies (modeling, remote sensing)
  • smart irrigation
  • irrigation of minor fruit crops

Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue

  • Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
  • Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
  • Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
  • External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
  • e-Book format: Special Issues with more than 10 articles can be published as dedicated e-books, ensuring wide and rapid dissemination.

Further information on MDPI's Special Issue polices can be found here.

Published Papers (1 paper)

Order results
Result details
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

18 pages, 3277 KiB  
Article
Assessment of Trunk Diameter Fluctuation-Derived Indices for Detecting Water Stress in Sweet Cherry Trees
by Pedro J. Blaya-Ros, Víctor Blanco, Roque Torres-Sánchez, Fulgencio Soto-Valles, Martín E. Espósito and Rafael Domingo
Water 2024, 16(15), 2186; https://doi.org/10.3390/w16152186 - 1 Aug 2024
Viewed by 802
Abstract
The continuous and reliable assessment of crop water status through water indicators enables the sustainable management of water resources, especially in arid or semi-arid climate scenarios exacerbated by climate change. Therefore, the main objective of this study is to determine and compare the [...] Read more.
The continuous and reliable assessment of crop water status through water indicators enables the sustainable management of water resources, especially in arid or semi-arid climate scenarios exacerbated by climate change. Therefore, the main objective of this study is to determine and compare the sensitivity of indices derived from trunk diameter fluctuations for the accurate and automatic detection of changes in the water status of cherry trees. The water stress indicators examined are maximum daily trunk shrinkage (MDS), trunk growth rate (TGR), early daily trunk shrinkage (EDS), and late daily trunk shrinkage (LDS). During two growing seasons, ‘Lapins’ sweet cherry trees were subjected to different water stress levels: (i) a control treatment irrigated at 115% of crop evapotranspiration demand to ensure non-limiting water conditions, and (ii) a deficit irrigation treatment, with two irrigation withholding cycles. Vegetative growth was affected by water stress. Trunk daily growth rate and late daily trunk shrinkage exhibited a high variability and did not clearly show differences in plant water status. Both EDS and MDS showed a third-degree polynomial relationship with Ψstem. MDS had a lineal relationship with Ψstem of up to −1.4 MPa; however, further decreases in Ψstem did not necessarily lead to increased MDS. In contrast, EDS became non-linear at −1.8 MPa, making it a more useful plant water indicator than MDS for ‘Lapins’ sweet cherry trees when detecting severe water stress conditions. The frequencies of both MDS and EDS decreased from 85% to 35% when water stress increased. Therefore, the information provided by MDS and EDS frequencies, along with their daily values, could be useful as irrigation management tools for sweet cherry trees. Full article
Show Figures

Figure 1

Back to TopTop