IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/agiwat/v242y2020ics0378377420308209.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Irrigation management of European greenhouse vegetable crops

Author

Listed:
  • Incrocci, Luca
  • Thompson, Rodney B.
  • Fernandez-Fernandez, María Dolores
  • De Pascale, Stefania
  • Pardossi, Alberto
  • Stanghellini, Cecilia
  • Rouphael, Youssef
  • Gallardo, Marisa

Abstract

In Europe, most greenhouse vegetable crops are grown in soil. Where soilless systems are used, apart from in The Netherlands, Belgium and France, they are mostly free-draining systems, in which nutrient solutions are not recirculated. Both soil-grown and free-draining soilless systems commonly have large nitrate (NO3−) leaching loss. Irrigation is a major contributing factor to NO3− leaching loss. Irrigation management of greenhouse vegetable crops needs to be improved to reduce the appreciable N loss to subterranean water and surface water bodies. This article reviews the state-of-the-art, of methods and tools that are available, or are being developed, to optimise irrigation management of both soil- and soilless-grown vegetable crops in greenhouses. Adaptions for greenhouse conditions and cropping cycles of the FAO56 approach to calculate crop water requirements are reviewed. Attention is paid to (i) the developments and suitability of various adaptations of the Penman–Monteith FAO56 equation and simpler equations to calculate reference crop evapotranspiration (ETO), and (ii) equations to calculate crop coefficient (Kc) values under greenhouse conditions, in which cropping cycles may differ appreciably from those of outdoor crops. The various classes of soil/substrate moisture sensors that have been used in greenhouse crops are reviewed, regarding their general suitability and practical use. Their use in both soil and substrate is considered, as are the effects of salinity and the use of some sensors to measure the salinity of the growing media. The use of various plant sensors with vegetable crops under greenhouse conditions is reviewed. The results of a survey that assessed, for greenhouse vegetable crops in Europe, the use of different (a) types of irrigation systems, and (b) irrigation management methods, for both soil and soilless production are presented. Following the revision of this information, recommendations are made regarding the scientific and practical value of the available tools and technologies to aid growers to optimise irrigation management of vegetable crops grown in greenhouses.

Suggested Citation

  • Incrocci, Luca & Thompson, Rodney B. & Fernandez-Fernandez, María Dolores & De Pascale, Stefania & Pardossi, Alberto & Stanghellini, Cecilia & Rouphael, Youssef & Gallardo, Marisa, 2020. "Irrigation management of European greenhouse vegetable crops," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 242(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:agiwat:v:242:y:2020:i:c:s0378377420308209
    DOI: 10.1016/j.agwat.2020.106393
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378377420308209
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.agwat.2020.106393?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Magán, J.J. & Gallardo, M. & Thompson, R.B. & Lorenzo, P., 2008. "Effects of salinity on fruit yield and quality of tomato grown in soil-less culture in greenhouses in Mediterranean climatic conditions," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 95(9), pages 1041-1055, September.
    2. Gallardo, M. & Fernández, M.D. & Giménez, C. & Padilla, F.M. & Thompson, R.B., 2016. "Revised VegSyst model to calculate dry matter production, critical N uptake and ETc of several vegetable species grown in Mediterranean greenhouses," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 146(C), pages 30-43.
    3. Adhikari, Raju & Bristow, Keith L. & Casey, Philip S. & Freischmidt, George & Hornbuckle, John W. & Adhikari, Benu, 2016. "Preformed and sprayable polymeric mulch film to improve agricultural water use efficiency," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 169(C), pages 1-13.
    4. Carmassi, G. & Incrocci, L. & Maggini, R. & Malorgio, F. & Tognoni, F. & Pardossi, A., 2007. "An aggregated model for water requirements of greenhouse tomato grown in closed rockwool culture with saline water," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 88(1-3), pages 73-82, March.
    5. Orgaz, F. & Fernandez, M.D. & Bonachela, S. & Gallardo, M. & Fereres, E., 2005. "Evapotranspiration of horticultural crops in an unheated plastic greenhouse," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 72(2), pages 81-96, March.
    6. van der Salm, Caroline & Voogt, Wim & Beerling, Ellen & van Ruijven, Jim & van Os, Erik, 2020. "Minimising emissions to water bodies from NW European greenhouses; with focus on Dutch vegetable cultivation," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 242(C).
    7. Abd El-Mageed, Taia A. & Semida, Wael M. & Rady, Mostafa M., 2017. "Moringa leaf extract as biostimulant improves water use efficiency, physio-biochemical attributes of squash plants under deficit irrigation," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 193(C), pages 46-54.
    8. Incrocci, Luca & Marzialetti, Paolo & Incrocci, Giorgio & Di Vita, Andrea & Balendonck, Jos & Bibbiani, Carlo & Spagnol, Serafino & Pardossi, Alberto, 2019. "Sensor-based management of container nursery crops irrigated with fresh or saline water," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 213(C), pages 49-61.
    9. Jiménez-Carvajal, C. & Ruiz-Peñalver, L. & Vera-Repullo, J.A. & Jiménez-Buendía, M. & Antolino-Merino, A. & Molina-Martínez, J.M., 2017. "Weighing lysimetric system for the determination of the water balance during irrigation in potted plants," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 183(C), pages 78-85.
    10. Fernandez, M.D. & Gonzalez, A.M. & Carreno, J. & Perez, C. & Bonachela, S., 2007. "Analysis of on-farm irrigation performance in Mediterranean greenhouses," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 89(3), pages 251-260, May.
    11. Thompson, R.B. & Gallardo, M. & Valdez, L.C. & Fernandez, M.D., 2007. "Determination of lower limits for irrigation management using in situ assessments of apparent crop water uptake made with volumetric soil water content sensors," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 92(1-2), pages 13-28, August.
    12. Ihuoma, Samuel O. & Madramootoo, Chandra A., 2019. "Crop reflectance indices for mapping water stress in greenhouse grown bell pepper," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 219(C), pages 49-58.
    13. Gallardo, Marisa & Elia, Antonio & Thompson, Rodney B., 2020. "Decision support systems and models for aiding irrigation and nutrient management of vegetable crops," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 240(C).
    14. Liang, Yin-Li & Wu, Xing & Zhu, Juan-Juan & Zhou, Mao-Juan & Peng, Qiang, 2011. "Response of hot pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) to mulching practices under planted greenhouse condition," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 99(1), pages 111-120.
    15. Thompson, R.B. & Martinez-Gaitan, C. & Gallardo, M. & Gimenez, C. & Fernandez, M.D., 2007. "Identification of irrigation and N management practices that contribute to nitrate leaching loss from an intensive vegetable production system by use of a comprehensive survey," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 89(3), pages 261-274, May.
    16. Yasuor, Hagai & Yermiyahu, Uri & Ben-Gal, Alon, 2020. "Consequences of irrigation and fertigation of vegetable crops with variable quality water: Israel as a case study," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 242(C).
    17. Massa, Daniele & Magán, Juan José & Montesano, Francesco Fabiano & Tzortzakis, Nikolaos, 2020. "Minimizing water and nutrient losses from soilless cropping in southern Europe," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 241(C).
    18. Qiu, Rangjian & Song, Jinjuan & Du, Taisheng & Kang, Shaozhong & Tong, Ling & Chen, Renqiang & Wu, Laosheng, 2013. "Response of evapotranspiration and yield to planting density of solar greenhouse grown tomato in northwest China," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 44-51.
    19. Thompson, R.B. & Gallardo, M. & Valdez, L.C. & Fernandez, M.D., 2007. "Using plant water status to define threshold values for irrigation management of vegetable crops using soil moisture sensors," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 88(1-3), pages 147-158, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Dickson Mgangathweni Mazibuko & Hiroko Gono & Sarvesh Maskey & Hiromu Okazawa & Lameck Fiwa & Hidehiko Kikuno & Tetsu Sato, 2023. "The Sustainable Niche for Vegetable Production within the Contentious Sustainable Agriculture Discourse: Barriers, Opportunities and Future Approaches," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(6), pages 1-25, March.
    2. Venezia, Accursio & Colla, Giuseppe & Di Cesare, Carlo & Stipic, Marija & Massa, Daniele, 2022. "The effect of different fertigation strategies on salinity and nutrient dynamics of cherry tomato grown in a gutter subirrigation system," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 262(C).
    3. Sara Sturiale & Oriana Gava & Marisa Gallardo & Dolores Buendía Guerrero & Dursun Buyuktas & Gulcin Ece Aslan & Asma Laarif & Thameur Bouslama & Alejandra Navarro & Luca Incrocci & Fabio Bartolini, 2024. "Environmental and Economic Performance of Greenhouse Cropping in the Mediterranean Basin: Lessons Learnt from a Cross-Country Comparison," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(11), pages 1-20, May.
    4. Wang, Jian & Li, Xin & Zhang, Zhenggui & Li, Xiaofei & Han, Yingchun & Feng, Lu & Yang, Beifang & Wang, Guoping & Lei, Yaping & Xiong, Shiwu & Xin, Minghua & Wang, Zhanbiao & Li, Yabing, 2022. "Application of image technology to simulate optimal frequency of automatic collection of volumetric soil water content data," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 269(C).
    5. Tamimi, Mansoor Al & Green, Steve & Hammami, Zied & Ammar, Khalil & Ketbi, Mouza Al & Al-Shrouf, Ali M. & Dawoud, Mohamed & Kennedy, Lesley & Clothier, Brent, 2022. "Evapotranspiration and crop coefficients using lysimeter measurements for food crops in the hyper-arid United Arab Emirates," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 272(C).
    6. Carotti, Laura & Pistillo, Alessandro & Zauli, Ilaria & Meneghello, Davide & Martin, Michael & Pennisi, Giuseppina & Gianquinto, Giorgio & Orsini, Francesco, 2023. "Improving water use efficiency in vertical farming: Effects of growing systems, far-red radiation and planting density on lettuce cultivation," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 285(C).
    7. Li Yang & Haijun Liu & Shabtai Cohen & Zhuangzhuang Gao, 2022. "Microclimate and Plant Transpiration of Tomato ( Solanum lycopersicum L.) in a Sunken Solar Greenhouse in North China," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 12(2), pages 1-21, February.
    8. Cedeño, J. & Magán, J.J. & Thompson, R.B. & Fernández, M.D. & Gallardo, M., 2023. "Reducing nutrient loss in drainage from tomato grown in free-draining substrate in greenhouses using dynamic nutrient management," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 287(C).
    9. Artur Mielcarek & Karolina Kłobukowska & Joanna Rodziewicz & Wojciech Janczukowicz & Kamil Łukasz Bryszewski, 2023. "Water Nutrient Management in Soilless Plant Cultivation versus Sustainability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(1), pages 1-20, December.
    10. Monika Komorowska & Marcin Niemiec & Jakub Sikora & Zofia Gródek-Szostak & Hatice Gurgulu & Maciej Chowaniak & Atilgan Atilgan & Pavel Neuberger, 2023. "Evaluation of Sheep Wool as a Substrate for Hydroponic Cucumber Cultivation," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-14, February.
    11. Massa, Daniele & Magán, Juan José & Montesano, Francesco Fabiano & Tzortzakis, Nikolaos, 2020. "Minimizing water and nutrient losses from soilless cropping in southern Europe," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 241(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Bonachela, Santiago & Fernández, María Dolores & Cabrera-Corral, Francisco Javier & Granados, María Rosa, 2022. "Salt and irrigation management of soil-grown Mediterranean greenhouse tomato crops drip-irrigated with moderately saline water," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 262(C).
    2. Gallardo, Marisa & Elia, Antonio & Thompson, Rodney B., 2020. "Decision support systems and models for aiding irrigation and nutrient management of vegetable crops," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 240(C).
    3. Soto, F. & Thompson, R.B. & Granados, M.R. & Martínez-Gaitán, C. & Gallardo, M., 2018. "Simulation of agronomic and nitrate pollution related parameters in vegetable cropping sequences in Mediterranean greenhouses using the EU-Rotate_N model," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 199(C), pages 175-189.
    4. Reca, J. & Trillo, C. & Sánchez, J.A. & Martínez, J. & Valera, D., 2018. "Optimization model for on-farm irrigation management of Mediterranean greenhouse crops using desalinated and saline water from different sources," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 166(C), pages 173-183.
    5. Pedro Garcia-Caparros & Juana Isabel Contreras & Rafael Baeza & Maria Luz Segura & Maria Teresa Lao, 2017. "Integral Management of Irrigation Water in Intensive Horticultural Systems of Almería," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(12), pages 1-21, December.
    6. Gallardo, M. & Thompson, R.B. & Rodríguez, J.S. & Rodríguez, F. & Fernández, M.D. & Sánchez, J.A. & Magán, J.J., 2009. "Simulation of transpiration, drainage, N uptake, nitrate leaching, and N uptake concentration in tomato grown in open substrate," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 96(12), pages 1773-1784, December.
    7. Bonachela, Santiago & Fernández, María Dolores & Cabrera, Francisco Javier & Granados, María Rosa, 2018. "Soil spatio-temporal distribution of water, salts and nutrients in greenhouse, drip-irrigated tomato crops using lysimetry and dielectric methods," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 203(C), pages 151-161.
    8. Mar Carreras-Sempere & Rafaela Caceres & Marc Viñas & Carmen Biel, 2021. "Use of Recovered Struvite and Ammonium Nitrate in Fertigation in Tomato ( Lycopersicum esculentum ) Production for boosting Circular and Sustainable Horticulture," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 11(11), pages 1-15, October.
    9. Thompson, R.B. & Gallardo, M. & Valdez, L.C. & Fernandez, M.D., 2007. "Determination of lower limits for irrigation management using in situ assessments of apparent crop water uptake made with volumetric soil water content sensors," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 92(1-2), pages 13-28, August.
    10. Savvas, Dimitrios & Giannothanasis, Evangelos & Ntanasi, Theodora & Karavidas, Ioannis & Drakatos, Stefanos & Panagiotakis, Ioannis & Neocleous, Damianos & Ntatsi, Georgia, 2023. "Improvement and validation of a decision support system to maintain optimal nutrient levels in crops grown in closed-loop soilless systems," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 285(C).
    11. Li Yang & Haijun Liu & Shabtai Cohen & Zhuangzhuang Gao, 2022. "Microclimate and Plant Transpiration of Tomato ( Solanum lycopersicum L.) in a Sunken Solar Greenhouse in North China," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 12(2), pages 1-21, February.
    12. José Sánchez & Juan Reca & Juan Martínez, 2015. "Water Productivity in a Mediterranean Semi-Arid Greenhouse District," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 29(14), pages 5395-5411, November.
    13. Puccinelli, Martina & Carmassi, Giulia & Pardossi, Alberto & Incrocci, Luca, 2023. "Wild edible plant species grown hydroponically with crop drainage water in a Mediterranean climate: Crop yield, leaf quality, and use of water and nutrients," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 282(C).
    14. Zinkernagel, Jana & Maestre-Valero, Jose. F. & Seresti, Sogol Y. & Intrigliolo, Diego S., 2020. "New technologies and practical approaches to improve irrigation management of open field vegetable crops," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 242(C).
    15. Cedeño, J. & Magán, J.J. & Thompson, R.B. & Fernández, M.D. & Gallardo, M., 2023. "Reducing nutrient loss in drainage from tomato grown in free-draining substrate in greenhouses using dynamic nutrient management," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 287(C).
    16. Gallardo, Marisa & Peña-Fleitas, María Teresa & Giménez, Carmen & Padilla, Francisco M. & Thompson, Rodney B., 2023. "Adaptation of VegSyst-DSS for macronutrient recommendations of fertigated, soil-grown, greenhouse vegetable crops," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 278(C).
    17. Jovanovic, N. & Pereira, L.S. & Paredes, P. & Pôças, I. & Cantore, V. & Todorovic, M., 2020. "A review of strategies, methods and technologies to reduce non-beneficial consumptive water use on farms considering the FAO56 methods," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 239(C).
    18. Nolz, R. & Cepuder, P. & Balas, J. & Loiskandl, W., 2016. "Soil water monitoring in a vineyard and assessment of unsaturated hydraulic parameters as thresholds for irrigation management," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 164(P2), pages 235-242.
    19. Gallardo, M. & Giménez, C. & Martínez-Gaitán, C. & Stöckle, C.O. & Thompson, R.B. & Granados, M.R., 2011. "Evaluation of the VegSyst model with muskmelon to simulate crop growth, nitrogen uptake and evapotranspiration," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 101(1), pages 107-117.
    20. Chang, Jie & Wu, Xu & Liu, Anqin & Wang, Yan & Xu, Bin & Yang, Wu & Meyerson, Laura A. & Gu, Baojing & Peng, Changhui & Ge, Ying, 2011. "Assessment of net ecosystem services of plastic greenhouse vegetable cultivation in China," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(4), pages 740-748, February.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:agiwat:v:242:y:2020:i:c:s0378377420308209. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/agwat .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.