Water resilient agriculture: sustainable irrigation strategies in fruit tree orchards

At global level, the climate changes are resulting in a significant and visible impact on the agriculture production. The agricultural sector needs to adapt to these changes through the use of sustainable management practices. The Southern Italy climate is always more characterized by low precipitation (~500 mm/year), mild winters and, dry summers. To increase water productivity at farm level is necessary to increase the efficiency of irrigation system, the plant Water Use Efficiency (WUE) and optimize the irrigation management. This paper summarises possible adaptation strategies aimed to improve soil water holding capacity by using specific soil management techniques in order to reduce the irrigation requirements in kiwifruit and peach orchards. In particular, canopy management and regulated deficit irrigation (RDI) technique will be presented. Under these conditions it is pivotal the correct irrigation volumes calculation and schedule to match plant needs. FAO crop coefficients (Kc) were revised and used in order to calculate the irrigation requirements (I) through the I = ET0 × Kc. Mismanagement of irrigation has been indicted as co-factor of leaching nitrate, hence this paper also focuses nitrate concentrations along the 0-90 cm soil layer concomitantly to soil moisture profile. The monitoring of soil moisture profiles, is a valid tool to use as Decision Support System (DSS) in order to optimize the irrigation volumes applied, preventing N leaching problem. Results reveal that environmental friendly management practices reduce approx. 1500 m3 ha-1 the irrigation water supply compared to conventional management. The adaptation to climate change by the agricultural sector will be achieved by considering the use of low cost management practices that can be easily adopted and have been proven to increase water productivity for the entire ecosystem.