Strategies for a sustainable management of water resources in horticulture and floriculture

Abstract

A more efficient use of water resources in agriculture, especially in horticulture and floriculture, is a concerning issue to choose sounder technical and agronomical practices for managing these resources vis-à-vis: a feasible water economy, the enhancement of natural equilibria and at the same time an increased crop competitiveness. In horticulture, several options are suitable: cultivar choice, timing and type of cropping system, fertilization plan and soil preparation, as well as, weed control and mulching. Micro-irrigation systems play an important role to efficiently reduce water losses and to increase irrigation performance, even if not always are economically feasible in all the cases. The choice of the irrigation management strategy involves a deep understanding of crop water requirements and its responses to water stress, including the identification of critical periods and their economical impact over the crop return. Besides nowadays, there are several new interesting perspectives in the irrigation arena by the employment of moisture sensors (TRD and FDR probes). Considered the scarcity of good quality water resources and its use-competition with other sectors (industrial and civil), for the agriculture will be destinated even all low quality water resources (brackish and wastewater). Within well-delimited standards of quality related to the type of crop and its main use, the use of those kind of water resources would be feasible by adopting and integrating all the possible management strategies, whose choice indeed requires a deep glance on into its cost-benefit.