Dear Colleagues,

At present, irrigation water availability and savings in its use is one of the main challenges imposed upon us by climate change.

Indeed, different digital models and good practices have been produced regarding irrigation and water management in horticulture, mostly paying attention to rationalizing water use either in fruit or in vegetable cultivation.

The present Issue would like to suggest in a more practical way how water-saving could be achieved starting from the first steps and first decisions that growers have to make in cultivation systems (i.e., rootstocks, soil management, training systems, the choice regarding hydroponics or traditional ground systems for vegetable and fruit growing).

These traditional aspects have indeed been discussed over decades, producing the best solutions that are now in common use. However, climate change is causing changes in the fundamental environmental variables that until now have ruled our agricultural systems. Moreover, climate change predictions show clear increases in temperatures (and concomitant increases in potential evapotranspiration) and more frequent episodes of climatic anomalies, such as droughts and heat waves. Therefore, since fundamental parameters are being modified, a new discussion that takes this into account can no longer be postponed, even for doing the right choices and finding the new right balances.

Moreover, as these topics are at the basis of agricultural systems, it is obvious that great multiplicative effects could be achieved when the correct choices are utilized mostly before that the more technological systems that nowadays are available for growers (satellite imaging, sensors, DSS) are utilized. 

In support of the importance of the factors described above, it should be considered that generally, a sustainability increase involves a cost increase, and this could be an intractable problem for some rural economies which could be unable to take on such a cost. On the contrary, managing soil rootstocks or training systems correctly can favor sustainability, and this this direction is more available in rural economies such as those of emerging countries, giving them an interesting option to move forward in the best economic and sustainable way.

In conclusion, we hope that these arguments have convinced you that fundamental interventions, even simple ones, must always be explored in order to achieve the best results. Therefore, we invite you to contribute your articles to help us to define the best solutions in the soil management rootstocks and training system field to improve the water use and savings in fruit and vegetable production. Also, interesting contribute as regard these topics regarding wine grape cultivation, may also be taken into account.

In this regard, we will equally consider very interesting contributions that deal with the nutraceutical effects on fruit and vegetables linked to the saving of irrigation water use. Finally, focusing on the technical solutions geared towards water saving, research regarding the effects of hydroponic systems will be considered very interesting.

Dr. Antonio Coletta
Guest Editor

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• WUE
• water use efficiency
• water saving
• fruit
• rootstocks
• soil management
• soil tillage cover cropping
• training systems
• antioxidants
• nutraceuticals
• hydroponics