Irrigation, Water Conservation and Sustainable Agricultural Harvesting

Dear Colleagues,

Agricultural water consumption accounts for 75-50% of the total freshwater on earth, most of which goes towards irrigation. Irrigation is critical to guarantee food security, especially in arid regions and countries. However, freshwater shortages present a critical problem in most of these regions along with the development of industry and agriculture and the advancement of society. Thus, water conservation has acquired increasing significance in sustainable agricultural harvesting, and it is vital that we investigate water-saving mechanisms and their relationship with sustainable irrigation practices. Accordingly, this Special Issue will present papers aiming to increase irrigation efficiency and maintain agricultural sustainable development by accurately estimating crop water requirements, revealing the mechanism of crop water stress, optimizing irrigation schedules through experiment and model investigations, and so on. Additionally, this Special Issue will focus on the application of modern water-saving technology and agricultural strategies, such as deficit irrigation, intelligence irrigation, unconventional water irrigation, green mulching and fertilization, which play a role in increasing water productivity and advancing agricultural sustainable development. The study of high water use efficiency and yield is crucial to sustainable agriculture.

For this Special Issue, we are inviting original research articles and reviews. Research areas may include (but are not limited to) the following:

• Relationship between crop growth and water;
• Crop water use efficiency;
• Irrigation and fertilization techniques;
• Evapotranspiration;
• Irrigation management;
• Agricultural sustainability using green mulching and fertilization;
• Irrigation with saline water

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Prof. Dr. Xianyue Li
Dr. Yuanyuan Zha
Dr. Xiaobo Gu
Guest Editors

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