IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v9y2017i12p2271-d122022.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Integral Management of Irrigation Water in Intensive Horticultural Systems of Almería

Author

Listed:
  • Pedro Garcia-Caparros

    (Agronomy Department of Superior School Engineering, University of Almería, Agrifood Campus of International Excellence ceiA3. Ctra. Sacramento s/n, La Cañada de San Urbano, 04120 Almería, Spain)

  • Juana Isabel Contreras

    (Institute of Research and Training in Agriculture and Fishery (IFAPA), Junta of Andalucia, La Mojonera, Almería 04630, Spain)

  • Rafael Baeza

    (Institute of Research and Training in Agriculture and Fishery (IFAPA), Junta of Andalucia, La Mojonera, Almería 04630, Spain)

  • Maria Luz Segura

    (Institute of Research and Training in Agriculture and Fishery (IFAPA), Junta of Andalucia, La Mojonera, Almería 04630, Spain)

  • Maria Teresa Lao

    (Agronomy Department of Superior School Engineering, University of Almería, Agrifood Campus of International Excellence ceiA3. Ctra. Sacramento s/n, La Cañada de San Urbano, 04120 Almería, Spain)

Abstract

The development of intensive horticulture in Almería, with a huge increase in greenhouse surface area, is related to three essential factors: climatic characteristics, groundwater use and mulching sandy soil. The purpose of the present paper is to draw a picture of the integral management of water irrigation in the intensive horticultural systems in the region, by identifying the most significant water resource contributions and alternative water resources. Results indicate that the use of groundwater for the irrigation of horticultural crops in the greenhouses presents a high degree of overexploitation of the aquifers, but due to the continuous search for alternative water resources, such as desalinated and reclaimed water, as well as in-depth knowledge of the integral management of water irrigation through automated fertigation and localized irrigation systems, the current status of the water resources could be sustainable. Moreover, being conscious of the pollution generated by agricultural leachates, the horticultural system of Almería is implementing complementary sustainable systems such as recirculation, cascade cropping systems and phytodepuration for the reuse of the leachate. Considering all these factors, it can be concluded that the intensive horticultural system is on the right path towards respecting the environment and being sustainable in terms of water use.

Suggested Citation

  • 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.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:9:y:2017:i:12:p:2271-:d:122022
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/9/12/2271/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/9/12/2271/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Su, Ninghu & Bethune, Matthew & Mann, Louise & Heuperman, Alfred, 2005. "Simulating water and salt movement in tile-drained fields irrigated with saline water under a Serial Biological Concentration management scenario," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 78(3), pages 165-180, December.
    2. 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.
    3. 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.
    4. Khan, S. & Abbas, A. & Blackwell, J. & Gabriel, H.F. & Ahmad, A., 2007. "Hydrogeological assessment of serial biological concentration of salts to manage saline drainage," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 92(1-2), pages 64-72, August.
    5. F. Sola & A. Vallejos & J. López-Geta & A. Pulido-Bosch, 2013. "The Role of Aquifer Media in Improving the Quality of Seawater Feed to Desalination Plants," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 27(5), pages 1377-1392, March.
    6. 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.
    7. Siddiqi, Afreen & Anadon, Laura Diaz, 2011. "The water-energy nexus in Middle East and North Africa," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(8), pages 4529-4540, August.
    8. Contreras, J.I. & Alonso, F. & Cánovas, G. & Baeza, R., 2017. "Irrigation management of greenhouse zucchini with different soil matric potential level. Agronomic and environmental effects," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 183(C), pages 26-34.
    9. Sonia Martínez & Jerónimo Pérez-Parra & Ricardo Suay, 2011. "Use of Ozone in Wastewater Treatment to Produce Water Suitable for Irrigation," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 25(9), pages 2109-2124, July.
    10. Tarjuelo, José M. & Rodriguez-Diaz, Juan A. & Abadía, Ricardo & Camacho, Emilio & Rocamora, Carmen & Moreno, Miguel A., 2015. "Efficient water and energy use in irrigation modernization: Lessons from Spanish case studies," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 162(C), pages 67-77.
    11. Díaz, Francisco J. & O′Geen, Anthony T. & Dahlgren, Randy A., 2012. "Agricultural pollutant removal by constructed wetlands: Implications for water management and design," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 171-183.
    12. Plaza, Blanca María & Soriano, Francisco & Jiménez-Becker, Silvia & Lao, María Teresa, 2016. "Nutritional responses of Cordyline fruticosa var. ‘Red Edge’ to fertigation with leachates vs. conventional fertigation: Chloride, nitrogen, phosphorus and sulphate," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 173(C), pages 61-66.
    13. 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.
    14. Létourneau, Guillaume & Caron, J. & Anderson, L. & Cormier, J., 2015. "Matric potential-based irrigation management of field-grown strawberry: Effects on yield and water use efficiency," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 161(C), pages 102-113.
    15. Muñoz, Ivan & del Mar Gómez, María & Fernández-Alba, Amadeo R., 2010. "Life Cycle Assessment of biomass production in a Mediterranean greenhouse using different water sources: Groundwater, treated wastewater and desalinated seawater," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 103(1), pages 1-9, January.
    16. Romero, R. & Muriel, J.L. & García, I. & Muñoz de la Peña, D., 2012. "Research on automatic irrigation control: State of the art and recent results," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 59-66.
    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. López-Felices, Belén & Aznar-Sánchez, Jose A. & Velasco-Muñoz, Juan F. & Mesa-Vázquez, Ernesto, 2023. "Examining the perceptions and behaviours of farmers regarding the installation of covers over irrigation ponds: Evidence from South-east Spain," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 275(C).
    2. Juan Francisco Velasco-Muñoz & José Ángel Aznar-Sánchez & Belén López-Felices & Gabriella Balacco, 2022. "Adopting sustainable water management practices in agriculture based on stakeholder preferences," Agricultural Economics, Czech Academy of Agricultural Sciences, vol. 68(9), pages 317-326.
    3. Jaime Martínez-Valderrama & Gabriel del Barrio & María E. Sanjuán & Emilio Guirado & Fernando T. Maestre, 2022. "Desertification in Spain: A Sound Diagnosis without Solutions and New Scenarios," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(2), pages 1-13, February.
    4. José A. Aznar-Sánchez & Luis J. Belmonte-Ureña & Juan F. Velasco-Muñoz & Diego L. Valera, 2019. "Aquifer Sustainability and the Use of Desalinated Seawater for Greenhouse Irrigation in the Campo de Níjar, Southeast Spain," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(5), pages 1-16, March.
    5. Efthymios Rodias & Eirini Aivazidou & Charisios Achillas & Dimitrios Aidonis & Dionysis Bochtis, 2020. "Water-Energy-Nutrients Synergies in the Agrifood Sector: A Circular Economy Framework," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(1), pages 1-17, December.
    6. Gao, Yang & Shao, Guangcheng & Wu, Shiqing & Xiaojun, Wang & Lu, Jia & Cui, Jintao, 2021. "Changes in soil salinity under treated wastewater irrigation: A meta-analysis," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 255(C).
    7. Diego Alejandro Salinas-Velandia & Felipe Romero-Perdomo & Stephanie Numa-Vergel & Edwin Villagrán & Pilar Donado-Godoy & Julio Ricardo Galindo-Pacheco, 2022. "Insights into Circular Horticulture: Knowledge Diffusion, Resource Circulation, One Health Approach, and Greenhouse Technologies," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(19), pages 1-16, September.
    8. Theodora Karanisa & Yasmine Achour & Ahmed Ouammi & Sami Sayadi, 2022. "Smart greenhouses as the path towards precision agriculture in the food-energy and water nexus: case study of Qatar," Environment Systems and Decisions, Springer, vol. 42(4), pages 521-546, December.
    9. 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).
    10. Juan F. Velasco-Muñoz & José A. Aznar-Sánchez & Luis J. Belmonte-Ureña & Isabel M. Román-Sánchez, 2018. "Sustainable Water Use in Agriculture: A Review of Worldwide Research," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(4), pages 1-18, April.
    11. 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.
    12. Antonio J. Castro & María D. López-Rodríguez & Cynthia Giagnocavo & Miguel Gimenez & Leticia Céspedes & Abel La Calle & Marisa Gallardo & Pablo Pumares & Javier Cabello & Estefanía Rodríguez & David U, 2019. "Six Collective Challenges for Sustainability of Almería Greenhouse Horticulture," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(21), pages 1-23, October.

    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. 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).
    3. Li, Shengping & Tan, Deshui & Wu, Xueping & Degré, Aurore & Long, Huaiyu & Zhang, Shuxiang & Lu, Jinjing & Gao, Lili & Zheng, Fengjun & Liu, Xiaotong & Liang, Guopeng, 2021. "Negative pressure irrigation increases vegetable water productivity and nitrogen use efficiency by improving soil water and NO3–-N distributions," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 251(C).
    4. Contreras, J.I. & Alonso, F. & Cánovas, G. & Baeza, R., 2017. "Irrigation management of greenhouse zucchini with different soil matric potential level. Agronomic and environmental effects," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 183(C), pages 26-34.
    5. Fernando Paniagua & Blanca María Plaza & Alfonso Llanderal & Pedro García-Caparrós & María Teresa Lao, 2023. "Sustainable Strategies Based on Reused Leachates and Hydrogen Peroxide Supply to Fertigate Cordyline fruticosa var. ‘Red Edge’ Plants," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 13(7), pages 1-19, June.
    6. Sánchez-Molina, J.A. & Rodríguez, F. & Guzmán, J.L. & Ramírez-Arias, J.A., 2015. "Water content virtual sensor for tomatoes in coconut coir substrate for irrigation control design," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 151(C), pages 114-125.
    7. Pérez-Castro, A. & Sánchez-Molina, J.A. & Castilla, M. & Sánchez-Moreno, J. & Moreno-Úbeda, J.C. & Magán, J.J., 2017. "cFertigUAL: A fertigation management app for greenhouse vegetable crops," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 183(C), pages 186-193.
    8. Bo Xiao & Shicheng Zhang & Tiankui Guo & Tong Zhou, 2014. "Experimental Investigation and Performance Evaluation of a Novel High Temperature Tolerant Seawater-based Fracturing Fluid," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 28(10), pages 2767-2779, August.
    9. 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).
    10. 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.
    11. Jackson, T.M. & Hanjra, Munir A. & Khan, S. & Hafeez, M.M., 2011. "Building a climate resilient farm: A risk based approach for understanding water, energy and emissions in irrigated agriculture," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 104(9), pages 729-745.
    12. White, David J. & Hubacek, Klaus & Feng, Kuishuang & Sun, Laixiang & Meng, Bo, 2018. "The Water-Energy-Food Nexus in East Asia: A tele-connected value chain analysis using inter-regional input-output analysis," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 210(C), pages 550-567.
    13. Mito, Mohamed T. & Ma, Xianghong & Albuflasa, Hanan & Davies, Philip A., 2019. "Reverse osmosis (RO) membrane desalination driven by wind and solar photovoltaic (PV) energy: State of the art and challenges for large-scale implementation," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 669-685.
    14. Abdelfatah, Ashraf & Aranda, Xavier & Savé, Robert & de Herralde, Felicidad & Biel, Carmen, 2013. "Evaluation of the response of maximum daily shrinkage in young cherry trees submitted to water stress cycles in a greenhouse," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 150-158.
    15. Imran Ali Lakhiar & Haofang Yan & Chuan Zhang & Guoqing Wang & Bin He & Beibei Hao & Yujing Han & Biyu Wang & Rongxuan Bao & Tabinda Naz Syed & Junaid Nawaz Chauhdary & Md. Rakibuzzaman, 2024. "A Review of Precision Irrigation Water-Saving Technology under Changing Climate for Enhancing Water Use Efficiency, Crop Yield, and Environmental Footprints," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 14(7), pages 1-40, July.
    16. Griffiths, Steven, 2017. "A review and assessment of energy policy in the Middle East and North Africa region," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 102(C), pages 249-269.
    17. Silva, Marcos Dornelas Freitas Machado e & Calijuri, Maria Lúcia & Sales, Francisco José Ferreira de & Souza, Mauro Henrique Batalha de & Lopes, Lucas Sampaio, 2014. "Integration of technologies and alternative sources of water and energy to promote the sustainability of urban landscapes," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 91(C), pages 71-81.
    18. Tsolas, Spyridon D. & Karim, M. Nazmul & Hasan, M.M. Faruque, 2018. "Optimization of water-energy nexus: A network representation-based graphical approach," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 224(C), pages 230-250.
    19. Enamorado, Santiago M. & Hurtado, Maria Dolores & Andreu, Luis & Martinez, Francisco & Sanchez, Jose & Delgado, Antonio & Abril, Jose-Maria, 2007. "Development of a recording water flow meter using ultrasonic measurement of water levels in a slotted U-pipe," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 88(1-3), pages 263-268, March.
    20. Lidia Roca & Jorge A. Sánchez & Francisco Rodríguez & Javier Bonilla & Alberto De la Calle & Manuel Berenguel, 2016. "Predictive Control Applied to a Solar Desalination Plant Connected to a Greenhouse with Daily Variation of Irrigation Water Demand," Energies, MDPI, vol. 9(3), pages 1-17, March.

    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:gam:jsusta:v:9:y:2017:i:12:p:2271-:d:122022. 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: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    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.