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Resilient Water Management in Arid and Semi-Arid Agroecosystems
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Resilient Water Management in Arid and Semi-Arid Agroecosystems

A special issue of Water (ISSN 2073-4441). This special issue belongs to the section "Water, Agriculture and Aquaculture".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 December 2026 | Viewed by 2205

Editors

Dr. Eeswaran Rasu

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Institute of Water Research, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48823, USA
Interests: agronomy; agricultural water management; agricultural system modeling; resilience; soil health
Dr. Prakash Kumar Jha

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Plant and Soil Sciences, Mississippi State University, Starkville, MS 39762, USA
Interests: agricultural climatology; decision support systems; crop ecophysiology; machine learning and artificial intelligence; geospatial and digital agriculture
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Arid and semi-arid agroecosystems face increasing challenges in water management due to low rainfall, high temperatures, and fragile soils. As these regions contribute significantly to global food production, achieving resilient water management is essential to sustaining agricultural productivity and mitigating climate-related risks. This Special Issue seeks innovative research that enhances resilient water management through efficient irrigation techniques, conservation agriculture, climate-adaptive cropping systems, stress-tolerant genotypes, and integrated crop-livestock systems. The focus is on how these methods and technologies can be leveraged to enhance water use efficiency, mitigate vulnerability, and build sustainability in dryland farming.

We invite submissions that present recent advancements, technical breakthroughs, and interdisciplinary approaches addressing the complexities of water scarcity and sustainable agriculture in arid and semi-arid regions. Contributions may explore policy frameworks, socio-economic impacts, and emerging decision support tools that guide effective water management decisions. By bringing together novel methodologies and applied solutions, this Special Issue aims to advance research, inform policy, and support adaptive strategies for resilient water management in these challenging agroecosystems.

Dr. Eeswaran Rasu
Dr. Prakash Kumar Jha
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-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Water 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

  • agricultural water management
  • seasonal climate forecasting and smart irrigation technologies
  • options for water-efficient rainfed agriculture
  • soil moisture sensors and IoT for decision support in irrigation
  • rainwater harvesting
  • reservoirs and tank management for agriculture in arid regions

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

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16 pages, 3397 KB  
Article
Contrasting Water-Use Strategies of Ailanthus altissima and Crataegus orientalis Under Drought Stress Reveal Restoration Potential in Mediterranean Drylands
by Bülent Akgün, Emre Yazar, Ömer Buğday, Martin Battaglia and Emre Babur
Water 2026, 18(16), 1952; https://doi.org/10.3390/w18161952 - 10 Aug 2026
Viewed by 326
Abstract
Water availability is the primary environmental factor limiting plant establishment in arid and semi-arid ecosystems, and increasing drought-stress due to climate change is making forest restoration efforts in the Mediterranean basin increasingly critical. The Eastern Mediterranean region of Türkiye, particularly Kahramanmaraş Province, is [...] Read more.
Water availability is the primary environmental factor limiting plant establishment in arid and semi-arid ecosystems, and increasing drought-stress due to climate change is making forest restoration efforts in the Mediterranean basin increasingly critical. The Eastern Mediterranean region of Türkiye, particularly Kahramanmaraş Province, is characterized by increasingly severe drought stress resulting from low natural precipitation and rising temperatures under global warming. This study comparatively evaluates the ecophysiological responses of Ailanthus altissima (Mill.) Swingle and Crataegus orientalis Pall. ex M. Bieb., under adequate irrigation and drought-stress conditions. To determine plant water status, pre-dawn and midday leaf water potentials were measured, and leaf gas exchange was characterized by measuring net photosynthesis (A), stomatal conductance (gs), and transpiration rate (E); water-use efficiency (WUE) was then derived from these parameters as the ratio of net photosynthesis to transpiration (A/E). Both species sustained positive net photosynthesis under drought, although at rates significantly below those of the well-watered controls in the driest months, and both attained higher WUE than the controls in most months, with marked seasonal variation. However, significant differences in physiological adaptation strategies emerged between the species. Ailanthus altissima exhibited a water-saving strategy, restricting stomatal conductance to maintain a stable leaf water status, whereas Crataegus orientalis adopted a water-spending strategy, sustaining high leaf gas exchange while tolerating pronounced tissue dehydration. Modeling results, supported by spatial drought stress indices, have shown that both species have high adaptation potential in arid and semi-arid rehabilitation areas. The findings reveal that ecophysiological characteristics play a critical role in the selection of drought-tolerant woody species and provide a scientific basis for sustainable forest restoration under climate change. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Resilient Water Management in Arid and Semi-Arid Agroecosystems)
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25 pages, 9790 KB  
Article
Coordinated Control of Valves and Protective Devices for Pressure Drop Mitigation in Gravity Irrigation Systems
by Mingshen Wang, Yungang Bai, Zhenlin Lu, Biao Cao, Sanmin Sun, Peng Sun, Qiying Yu and Hongbin Zhang
Water 2026, 18(6), 690; https://doi.org/10.3390/w18060690 - 16 Mar 2026
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 720
Abstract
To address pressure-drop-induced safety risks in high-drop gravity-fed irrigation pipelines, this study investigates coordinated prevention and control strategies that integrate air release and vacuum valve groups with flow-adaptive valve closure rules. A large-scale self-pressurized irrigation network (1.33 × 108 m2) [...] Read more.
To address pressure-drop-induced safety risks in high-drop gravity-fed irrigation pipelines, this study investigates coordinated prevention and control strategies that integrate air release and vacuum valve groups with flow-adaptive valve closure rules. A large-scale self-pressurized irrigation network (1.33 × 108 m2) in Karamay, Xinjiang, China, is selected as a representative case study. Based on one-dimensional transient flow modeling, pressure drop and negative-pressure characteristics induced by inlet valve closure in the main pipeline are analyzed using wave speed theory, governing differential equations, and the finite difference method. A coordinated protection framework is proposed that explicitly links valve operating patterns with the spatial configuration of protective devices. Unlike conventional schemes that rely on empirical layouts and fixed closure rules, this study introduces a critical-flow-velocity-based valve grouping method combined with flow-dependent valve closure strategies. Simulation results demonstrate that a strategically optimized configuration of air release and vacuum valves along the main pipeline is sufficient to eliminate negative pressure under all operating conditions. For flow rates below 6 m3/s, linear valve closure ensures safe operation, whereas a two-stage closure is required for higher flow rates (6–10 m3/s). As flow increases, reducing the fast-closure ratio and extending the total closure time effectively suppress pressure-drop-dominated transient effects at vulnerable inlet sections. By effectively mitigating transient pressure surges, the proposed coordinated “valve closure-protection device” strategy improves system adaptability to flow variability and provides practical engineering guidance for the safe operation of gravity irrigation systems, particularly high-gradient self-pressurized networks. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Resilient Water Management in Arid and Semi-Arid Agroecosystems)
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Review

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44 pages, 13789 KB  
Review
Integrated Drought Resilience in Foxtail Millet: From Molecular Regulation and Multi-Omics to Climate-Resilient Breeding
by Gan Liu, Shaohua Li, Qi He, Chirui Zhang, Jun Zhang and Zhong Tang
Water 2026, 18(15), 1823; https://doi.org/10.3390/w18151823 - 27 Jul 2026
Viewed by 445
Abstract
Climate change and the increasing frequency of extreme temperatures pose severe threats to global agricultural productivity, making the breeding of water-efficient crops a critical imperative. Originating from arid regions, foxtail millet serves as an ideal C4 model crop for elucidating plant adaptations to [...] Read more.
Climate change and the increasing frequency of extreme temperatures pose severe threats to global agricultural productivity, making the breeding of water-efficient crops a critical imperative. Originating from arid regions, foxtail millet serves as an ideal C4 model crop for elucidating plant adaptations to water deficits. Unlike previous reviews that often isolate genomic features from physiological responses, this review constructs an explicit conceptual framework integrating cross-scale defense mechanisms—mechanistically linking molecular signal transduction and post-transcriptional regulation to cellular homeostasis and field-scale yield stability. We first detail the developmental stage-specific physiological penalties of water stress and dissect proactive water-conservation strategies, including stomatal anatomical optimization, root-carbon reallocation, and dynamic rhizosphere remodeling. At the genetic level, we highlight the application of dynamic quantitative trait loci (QTL) mapping, which transcends the static limitations of conventional QTLs by capturing the spatiotemporal evolution of drought-tolerance traits across distinct developmental nodes. To bridge the gap between intrinsic genetic potential and field application, we spotlight the emerging integration of machine learning-assisted breeding and genomic prediction for the efficient evaluation of superior germplasms. Across this framework, several persistent gaps emerge: most drought-responsive genes identified in foxtail millet remain at the level of expression association without functional validation; dynamic QTL analysis remains underutilized relative to its capacity to resolve reproductive-stage drought tolerance; and ML-based genomic prediction, though demonstrated in this species, has not been integrated into operational breeding. Closing these gaps will require connecting high-throughput field phenotyping to genomic selection and deploying functionally validated editing targets in genetic backgrounds relevant to dryland production. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Resilient Water Management in Arid and Semi-Arid Agroecosystems)
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