Precision Irrigation for Sustainable Specialty Crops: Efficiency, Management and Productivity

Dear Colleagues,

The Special Issue, “Precision Irrigation for Sustainable Specialty Crops: Efficiency, Management and Productivity”, publishes original manuscripts of diverse types related to the science, technology and practice of water management in high-value specialty crop systems. The term 'specialty crops' is used here in its broadest sense, encompassing both tree fruit crops (e.g., olive, grapevine, stone fruits, citrus) and vegetable crops (e.g., leafy vegetables, solanaceous crops, greenhouse vegetables), as well as aromatic and medicinal plants. Water scarcity, climate variability and the intensifying global demand for high-value agricultural commodities have collectively positioned irrigation management as one of the most critically examined frontiers in resilient agricultural science. Specialty crops are characterized not only by their considerable economic significance but also by their pronounced sensitivity to water stress, making the precision and timing of irrigation delivery central to both yield optimization and resource governance. This Special Issue is dedicated to advancing the frontier of knowledge at the intersection of precision irrigation technologies, sustainable crop management and productivity.

The aim of this Special Issue is to unify and disseminate cutting-edge research that interrogates the physiological, agronomic, engineering and environmental dimensions of irrigation in specialty crops. It seeks to connect fundamental plant–water relations—including stem water potential, trunk diameter fluctuations and canopy-level stress indicators—to applied on-farm decision making, welcoming contributions that are methodological, data-driven and synthetic in nature. Particular emphasis is placed on studies that demonstrate measurable improvements in water use efficiency, crop quality and sustainable production under diverse agroclimatic and soil conditions.

Contributions may address precision rootzone sensing technologies such as capacitance sensors and threshold-based controllers, as well as advanced in-plant and soil sensing technologies for real-time irrigation monitoring and control. Remote-sensing approaches—including hyperspectral and thermal imaging, satellite-based remote sensing platforms and artificial intelligence and machine-learning methods for automated water stress detection—are equally encouraged. The Special Issue further welcomes research on deficit irrigation strategies combined with biostimulant applications for drought mitigation and quality enhancement, the coupling of crop growth models with weather forecast data for proactive irrigation scheduling, digital soil mapping integrated with variable-rate drip irrigation systems, and IoT and cloud analytics platforms for real-time precision irrigation management across heterogeneous specialty crop fields and diverse Mediterranean and global agroecosystems.

Therefore, manuscripts of basic and applied studies are welcomed on topics including, but not limited to, the following:

• Precision Rootzone Irrigation with Capacitance Sensors and Threshold Controllers in High-Density Orchards
• Plant Water Status Indicators (Stem Water Potential, Trunk Diameter) for Precision Irrigation Scheduling in Mediterranean Fruit Crops
• Coupling Crop Growth Models and Weather Forecasts for Precision Irrigation in Specialty Vegetables
• Precision Deficit Irrigation and Biostimulants for Drought Mitigation and Quality Improvement in Leafy Crops
• Hyperspectral and Thermal Imaging for Early Water-Stress Detection in Precision Viticulture
• Deep Learning and Computer Vision for Canopy Water Stress Detection and Automated Irrigation in Specialty Crops
• Satellite-Based Multispectral Imagery (Sentinel-2, Landsat) for Large-Scale Crop Water-Stress Mapping and Precision Irrigation Scheduling in Specialty Crop Regions
• Wireless Nanosensor Networks and In-Plant Microfluidic Sensors for Continuous Water-Status Monitoring and Real-Time Precision Irrigation Control in Specialty Crops
• Digital Soil Mapping and Variable-Rate Drip Irrigation for Water Efficiency in Heterogeneous Fields
• IoT Microcontrollers and Cloud Analytics for Real-Time Precision Irrigation Management

Contributions from early career researchers, from interdisciplinary scientists and on propositions for research topics are welcome.

Dr. Aglaia Liopa-Tsakalidi
Dr. Helen Kalorizou
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 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

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. Agriculture 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.

• precision irrigation
• specialty crops
• water-use efficiency
• crop water stress
• deficit irrigation
• remote sensing and smart sensors
• sustainable water management