Water Scarcity and Sustainable Agriculture in Semiarid Environment

Tools, Strategies, and Challenges for Woody Crops

Ivan Francisco Garcia Tejero, Victor Hugo Duran Zuazo

• Publisher: Academic Press
• Year: 2018
• Print ISBN:
  9780128131640
• eBook ISBN:
  9780128131657
• Topic: Biological Sciences
• Subtopic: Environmental Science
• Index: Biological Sciences

Water Scarcity and Sustainable Agriculture in Semiarid Environment: Tools, Strategies and Challenges for Woody Crops explores the complex relationship between water scarcity and climate change, agricultural water-use efficiency, crop-water stress management and modeling water scarcity in woody crops. Understanding these cause- and effect relationships and identifying the most appropriate responses are critical for sustainable crop production. The book focuses on Mediterranean environments to explain how to determine the most appropriate strategy and implement an effective plan; however, core concepts are translational to other regions. Informative for those working in agricultural water management, irrigation and drainage, crop physiology and sustainable agriculture. - Focuses on semi-arid crops including olive, vine, citrus, almonds, peach, nectarine, plum, subtropical fruits and others - Explores crop physiological responses to drought at plant, cellular and/or molecular levels - Presents tool options for assessing crop-water status and irrigation scheduling

Part 1

Water Scarcity - Climate Change and Environmental Challenges

Outline

Chapter 1. Water Management and Climate Change in Semiarid Environments

Chapter 2. Water—Energy Nexus in Irrigated Areas. Lessons From Real Case Studies

Chapter 3. Water Footprint Accounting for Improving Irrigation Management in Olive Trees

Chapter 4. Local and Collective Actions for Adaptation to Use Less Water for Agriculture in the Mediterranean Region

Chapter 1

Water Management and Climate Change in Semiarid Environments

Ignacio J. Lorite¹, Margarita Ruiz-Ramos², Clara Gabaldón-Leal¹, María Cruz-Blanco¹, Rafael Porras¹, and Cristina Santos^{1 1}IFAPA – Centro “Alameda del Obispo”, Córdoba, Spain ²UPM – CEIGRAM, Madrid, Spain

Abstract

Climate change will impact on Mediterranean agricultural systems. This impact will be especially relevant for agricultural water management, a key component in semiarid environments. An accurate characterization of the impacts of climate change is essential to develop strategies of adaptation and mitigation to increase the sustainability of Mediterranean agricultural systems. However, the identification of these impacts is not an easy task due to the high uncertainty associated with future climate conditions and consequent crop responses. Therefore this chapter evaluates different methodologies for the impact assessment of climate change on water management in agriculture. Considering the identification of these main impacts on water management, several adaptation and mitigation strategies currently considered or under evaluation in southern Spain have been carried out. Finally, approaches for extension of these adaptation and mitigation strategies are described.

Keywords

Adaptation strategies; Crop phenology; Deficit irrigation; Irrigation scheduling; Mitigation strategies; Simulation model

Contents

1. Weather and Climate Characterization of Mediterranean Environments

1.1 Current Weather Characterization

1.2 Future Weather Characterization

2. Water Management in Rain-Fed and Irrigated Agricultural Systems

2.1 Components of Correct Water Management

2.2 Soil Management

2.3 Crop Water Requirements

3. Impacts of Climate Change on Water Management

3.1 Impact of Climate Change on Transpiration

3.2 Impact of Climate Change on Irrigation Requirements, Yield, and Water Productivity

3.3 Modeling of the Impact of Climate Change on Water Management

4. Implementation of Adaptation Strategies Under Current and Future Climates in Southern Spain

4.1 Current Adaptation Strategies Related to Water Management for Woody Crops

4.1.1 Soil Management Considering Reduced Tillage

4.1.2 Consideration of Cover Crops

4.1.3 Implementation of Regulated Deficit Irrigation Strategies

4.1.4 Extension of the Irrigated Areas With Low Water Allocation

4.1.5 Rearrangement of Irrigation Allocations Within Farms and Irrigation Schemes

4.1.6 Improving Irrigation Water Management at the Field Scale

4.1.7 Reductions in Available Irrigation Water Even in Years Without Weather Limitations

4.1.8 Improvement of the Irrigation Infrastructure

4.1.9 Incorporation of New Sources of Water for Irrigation

4.1.10 Diversification of the Crop Pattern at the Field Scale

4.1.11 Increase and Promotion of Local and Regional Irrigation Advisory Services

4.1.12 Integrated Crop Management Supported by Decision Systems

4.2 Adaptation Strategies Under Evaluation and Experimentation

4.2.1 Soil Management Practices for Increasing Albedo to Reduce Air Temperature and Microadvection

4.2.2 Cultivar Selection Depending on New Climate Conditions

4.2.3 Identification of Suitable New Cultivation Areas

4.2.4 Genetic Improvement

4.2.5 Application of Foliar Kaolin Clay Particles to Olive and Other Trees

4.2.6 Consideration of Supplementary Irrigation to Reduce the Canopy Temperature

5. The Role of Water Management in the Mitigation of Climate Change

6. Extension of Adaptation and Mitigation Strategies to Climate Change: The Example of Southern Spain

6.1 Extension of Adaptation and Mitigation Strategies in Southern Spain

6.2 Impediments for the Implementation of Adaptation and Mitigation Strategies in Southern Spain

7. Conclusions

Acknowledgments

References

1. Weather and Climate Characterization of Mediterranean Environments

1.1. Current Weather Characterization

Weather data are essential inputs for the determination of crop water requirements (Ashraf et al., 1997) and therefore for correct water management in Mediterranean environments. Automated weather stations are designed to accurately measure and record standard meteorological variables over extended periods (Hubbard and Sivakumar, 2000), providing continuous observations without human intervention. Observations from automated weather stations are performed for different purposes in an agricultural context, from activities related to meteorological research (Miller and Barth, 2003) and predictions (Lorite et al., 2015), irrigation scheduling (Cruz-Blanco et al., 2014a), or validation of interpolation methods for reference evapotranspiration (ET_o) assessment (Ramírez-Cuesta et al., 2017).

Although weather station networks have been promoted (Miller and Barth, 2003; Estévez et al., 2011), the current number of weather stations is clearly limited (Collins, 2011; Essou et al., 2016). This is a clear barrier to the proper management of water resources, making difficult the risk management of water scarcity and water conflicts (Maeda et al., 2011). In addition, vast areas are located far from well-managed weather stations, avoiding correct weather characterization, and in many areas weather stations are sparsely distributed (Essou et al., 2016). However, for large areas it is necessary to have an elevated number of observation sites due to the heterogeneity of landscapes (Srivastava et al., 2013). To solve these limitations, consideration of simplified approaches for ET_o assessment not requiring complete weather stations (such as the Hargreaves equation; Gavilán et al., 2006), or interpolation approaches based on data collected from meteorological stations, have provided accurate weather components in areas where high-quality observations from weather stations are not available (Blum et al., 2013; Bojanowski et al., 2014; Ramírez-Cuesta et al., 2017).

Alternative approaches to obtain critical weather variables in those areas where accurate weather-observed data are not available have been developed for temporal or spatial gap filling, obtaining global or regional datasets (Hijmans et al., 2005). Thus methods co...

Table of contents

• Cover image
• Title page
• Table of Contents
• Copyright
• Dedication
• List of Contributors
• Preface
• Part 1. Water Scarcity - Climate Change and Environmental Challenges
• Part 2. Crop Water Stress Management and Water Use Efficiency Under Drought Conditions
• Part 3. Physiological and Molecular Responses to Drought
• Index