Crop irrigation uses more than 70% of the world’s water, and thus, improving irrigation efficiency is decisive to sustain the food demand from a fast-growing world population. This objective may be accomplished by cultivating more water-efficient crop species and/or through the application of efficient irrigation systems, which includes the implementation of a suitable method for precise scheduling. At the farm level, irrigation is generally scheduled based on the grower’s experience or on the determination of soil water balance (weather-based method). An alternative approach entails the measurement of soil water status. Expensive and sophisticated root zone sensors (RZS), such as neutron probes, are available for the use of soil and plant scientists, while cheap and practical devices are needed for irrigation management in commercial crops. The paper illustrates the main features of RZS’ (for both soil moisture and salinity) marketed for the irrigation industry and discusses how such sensors may be integrated in a wireless network for computer-controlled irrigation and used for innovative irrigation strategies, such as deficit or dual-water irrigation. The paper also consider the main results of recent or current research works conducted by the authors in Tuscany (Italy) on the irrigation management of container-grown ornamental plants, which is an important agricultural sector in Italy.

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This paper describes the architecture of a simple process-based model that simulates on a daily time step growth and development of an olive agroecosystem, including the olive tree and grass cover growth and their competition for water. The model includes a phenological sub-model simulating the sequence of olive tree vegetative and reproductive stages for determining changes in biomass allocation. Final yield is calculated at the end of growing season as a fraction of total olive tree biomass accumulation. To ensure a wide applicability of the model, calibration and validation were performed across different climates, soils, planting densities and management practices. The model was firstly calibrated against daily CO2 flux measurements obtained from an eddy covariance experimental station on a 3-year experiment, while additional sites across Tuscany region were selected to test the model effectiveness in simulating the most important plant and grass cover processes. The results pointed out that the model was able to faithfully reproduce olive tree transpiration, soil water balance total olive tree and grass cover biomass accumulation and final yield.

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