Speaker
Description
Increasing water productivity is a challenge to be met in all environments characterized by water scarcity. This objective can be achieved through the precision management of irrigation practices which involves identifying the appropriate irrigation doses to be applied timely for crop needs.
The latest generation of sensors, combined with the use of ICT, makes it possible to monitor the water status of the soil-plant-atmosphere (SPA) system in real-time and to manage irrigation according to known water-saving strategies. In the citrus grove of the Villabate experimental site, the irrigation Research Group of SAAF Department is testing the most modern and advanced technologies currently available for monitoring the SPA system to obtain the most reliable estimate of crop needs.
In addition, the use of indicators that directly quantify the soil and plant water status represents a significant step towards the precision irrigation, avoiding either undesirable water stress conditions that can penalize the quantity and quality of citrus production, or excessive irrigation volumes that can cause soil waterlogging or deep drainage. These indicators will allow the development of an effective decision support system that can help the farmer to choose the most appropriate irrigation management strategy with the aim of increasing the water use efficiency.
