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Agriculture
Special Issues
Enhancing Soil Health and Water Use Efficiency in Sustainable Agriculture
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Enhancing Soil Health and Water Use Efficiency in Sustainable Agriculture

A special issue of Agriculture (ISSN 2077-0472). This special issue belongs to the section "Agricultural Water Management".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 15 October 2025 | Viewed by 2688

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Daniel Bucur

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Pedotechnics, Faculty of Agriculture, “Ion Ionescu de la Brad” Iasi University of Life Sciences (IULS), 3 Aleea Mihail Sadoveanu, 700490 Iasi, Romania
Interests: environmental impact assessment; land reclamation; water resources management; hydrological modeling; water quality; soil and water conservation
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Teodor Rusu

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Faculty of Agriculture, University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine, Cluj‐Napoca, Romania
Interests: soil management; agronomy; land-use
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue focuses on exploring innovative strategies to improve soil health and water use efficiency in agricultural practices. In the face of global environmental challenges, developing sustainable agricultural methods that increase crop yields while preserving soil fertility and conserving water resources is important and necessary.

We aim to provide researchers, farmers, and policymakers with practical solutions that address the complex challenges of modern agriculture.

For this, we ask you to submit impactful studies that address the complex challenges of providing food for a population that is heading towards 10 billion in the next 25 years, promoting sustainable, ecological, and economically viable agricultural practices.

We invite submissions of impactful studies that focus on specific areas such as soil health restoration, efficient water management techniques, and climate-smart agriculture. By narrowing our focus to these critical aspects, we hope to offer valuable insights and actionable advice for those committed to sustainable and resilient farming practices.

Our goal is to contribute to the development of strategies that enhance crop production while ultimately supporting environmental conservation. We believe that through rigorous scientific investigation and innovative approaches, we can contribute to the development of a more sustainable and resilient agricultural sector. We therefore extend the invitation and plea to share your findings, connect with colleagues, and influence the future of agricultural practices around the world to all of you, whether you are experienced and recognized researchers or a new voice in the field.

Prof. Dr. Daniel Bucur
Prof. Dr. Teodor Rusu
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 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

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.

Keywords

  • soil health
  • water use efficiency
  • sustainable agriculture
  • soil fertility
  • water conservation
  • precision agriculture
  • climate-smart farming
  • soil restoration
  • efficient irrigation
  • sustainable crop production

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Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

32 pages, 10045 KiB  
Article
Remote Sensing Evaluation of Drought Effects on Crop Yields Across Dobrogea, Romania, Using Vegetation Health Index (VHI)
by Cristina Serban and Carmen Maftei
Agriculture 2025, 15(7), 668; https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture15070668 - 21 Mar 2025
Viewed by 485
Abstract
Drought raises significant challenges and consequences in the socioeconomic environment in Dobrogea, Romania. This research aimed to assess the spatiotemporal dynamics of agrometeorological droughts from 2001 to 2021 using a multi-index approach that includes the Vegetation Health Index (VHI) and Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration [...] Read more.
Drought raises significant challenges and consequences in the socioeconomic environment in Dobrogea, Romania. This research aimed to assess the spatiotemporal dynamics of agrometeorological droughts from 2001 to 2021 using a multi-index approach that includes the Vegetation Health Index (VHI) and Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI). Severe-to-extreme drought events were detected in 2001, 2007, 2012, 2015, 2016, 2019, and 2020, when temperatures in the area reached as high as 40.91 °C. Regarding area coverage, 2012 and 2020 were the worst drought years, with 66% and 71% of the region affected. Mild and moderate droughts were consistently identified across almost the entire period, while normal wet conditions were indicated in 2004–2006. The spatial analysis and the drought frequency maps revealed that the central, southern, and northwestern areas were particularly vulnerable, underlining the need for targeted drought mitigation measures. The trend analysis results indicated a nonuniform spatial feature of the negative (drying)/positive (wetting) trends at the regional level, with statistically significant trends identified only over small areas. Further results showed a robust relationship among the VHI and SPEI, particularly on 1-month and seasonal timescales. The extended correlation analysis results showed very strong positive relationships among all the vegetation indices, positive relations with rainfall, and strong negative ties with land surface temperature. Moreover, the seasonal VHI proved to be effective for drought monitoring across areas with diverse crop types. The results we obtained are consistent with previous studies on the incidence of drought in the area and hold practical significance for decision-makers responsible for drought management planning within Dobrogea, including setting up an early warning system using the VHI. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Enhancing Soil Health and Water Use Efficiency in Sustainable Agriculture)
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22 pages, 11426 KiB  
Article
The Characteristics and Driving Factors of Soil Salinisation in the Irrigated Area on the Southern Bank of the Yellow River in Inner Mongolia: A Assessment of the Donghaixin Irrigation District
by Ziyuan Qin, Tangzhe Nie, Ying Wang, Hexiang Zheng, Changfu Tong, Jun Wang, Rongyang Wang and Hongfei Hou
Agriculture 2025, 15(5), 566; https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture15050566 - 6 Mar 2025
Viewed by 615
Abstract
Soil salinisation is a critical problem in northern China’s arid and semi-arid irrigated regions, posing a substantial impediment to the sustainable advancement of agriculture in these areas. This research utilises the Donghaixin Irrigation District, located on the southern bank of the Yellow River [...] Read more.
Soil salinisation is a critical problem in northern China’s arid and semi-arid irrigated regions, posing a substantial impediment to the sustainable advancement of agriculture in these areas. This research utilises the Donghaixin Irrigation District, located on the southern bank of the Yellow River in Inner Mongolia, as a case study. This study examines the spatial distribution and determinants of soil salinisation through macro-environmental variables and micro-ion composition, integrating regression models and groundwater ion characteristics to elucidate the patterns and causes of soil salinisation systematically. The findings demonstrate that soil salinisation in the study region displays notable spatial clustering, with surface water-irrigated regions exhibiting greater salinisation levels than groundwater-irrigated areas. More than 80% of the land exhibits moderate salinity, predominantly characterised by the ions Cl−, HCO3−, and SO42−. The hierarchy of ion concentration variation with escalating soil salinity is as follows: Na+ > K+ > SO42− > Cl− > Mg2+ > HCO3− + CO32− > Ca2+. The susceptibility of ions to soil salinisation is ordered as follows: Ca2+ > Na+ > HCO3− + CO32− > Mg2+ > K+ > Cl− > SO42−. In contrast to the ordinary least squares (OLS) model, the geographic weighted regression (GWR) model more effectively elucidates the geographical variability of salinity, evidenced by an adjusted R2 of 0.68, particularly in high-salinity regions, where it more precisely captures the trend of observed values. Ecological driving elements such as organic matter (OM), pH, groundwater depth (GD), total dissolved solids (TDS), digital elevation model (DEM), normalised difference vegetation index (NDVI), soil moisture (SM), and potential evapotranspiration (PET) govern the distribution of salinisation. In contrast, anthropogenic activities affect the extent of salinisation variation. Piper’s trilinear diagram demonstrates that Na cations mainly characterise groundwater and soil water chemistry. In areas irrigated by surface water, the concentration of SO42− is substantially elevated and significantly affected by agricultural practises; conversely, in groundwater-irrigated regions, Cl− and HCO3− are more concentrated, primarily driven by evaporation and ion exchange mechanisms. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Enhancing Soil Health and Water Use Efficiency in Sustainable Agriculture)
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14 pages, 2820 KiB  
Article
Effects of Mixed Saline and Fresh Water Sprinkler Irrigation on the Rhizosphere Soil Microbial Community of Summer Maize
by Tieqiang Wang, Zikang Guo, Hanbo Wang, Weidong Li, Wenxu Sheng, Shuantang Zhang and Dasheng Zhang
Agriculture 2024, 14(12), 2237; https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture14122237 - 6 Dec 2024
Viewed by 704
Abstract
Mixing saline and fresh water can help to increase the agricultural water utilization rate and solve the water shortage situation, but its role on rhizosphere microbes is unknown. This study revealed the effects of mixed saline and freshwater sprinkler irrigation at different proportions [...] Read more.
Mixing saline and fresh water can help to increase the agricultural water utilization rate and solve the water shortage situation, but its role on rhizosphere microbes is unknown. This study revealed the effects of mixed saline and freshwater sprinkler irrigation at different proportions on the rhizosphere soil microbial community of summer maize. Compared to freshwater sprinkler irrigation, sprinkler irrigation with 2 g·L−1 of mixed saline and fresh water significantly increased the bacterial α-diversity and significantly affected the structure and composition of bacterial communities, increasing the number of OTUs, the ACE index, and the Shannon index in the rhizosphere soils, whereas sprinkler irrigation with 3 g·L−1 did not lead to significant changes. In addition, there was a significant difference in β-diversity between the mixed saline and freshwater sprinkler irrigation and the freshwater sprinkler irrigation. Principal coordinate analysis revealed that the 2 g·L−1 and 3 g·L−1 sprinkler irrigation treatments were closer to each other, but both were at a greater distance from the freshwater sprinkler irrigation, indicating that mixed saline and freshwater irrigation significantly affected the structure of rhizosphere soil bacterial communities. Ammonium nitrogen, alkaline dissolved nitrogen, and total nitrogen all affected the soil bacterial community structure by more than 10%, with ammonium nitrogen being the most influential environmental factor. The relative abundance of most microbes in the mixed saline and freshwater sprinkler treatments was positively correlated with ammonium nitrogen, especially in the 2 g·L−1 treatment, while that of most microbes in the freshwater sprinkler treatment was negatively correlated with ammonium nitrogen. In conclusion, selecting a sprinkler irrigation model with a mineralization level of mixed saline and freshwater not exceeding 2 g·L−1 could enhance the rhizosphere soil microbial community while conserving water resources. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Enhancing Soil Health and Water Use Efficiency in Sustainable Agriculture)
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