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Climate changes lead to a rise in air temperature, which significantly increases the water needs of plants. Maintaining crop productivity will increasingly require the use of plant irrigation. The aim of this study was to assess the water needs of grapevines cultivated in the western provinces of Poland. The calculations were made on the basis of temperature and precipitation measurements collected at three meteorological stations in the period 1981–2010. Water needs were calculated as crop evapotranspiration, which was estimated by crop coefficients and reference evapotranspiration, determined using the Blaney–Criddle formula. The rainfall deficit was assessed by Ostromęcki’s method. The tendency to increase the water needs was observed in each subsequent decade of the thirty-year period, both in the whole growing season (May–October), as well as in June–August and July. The highest values of the linear correlation coefficient for the trend of time variability in water needs occurred from June to August. An analysis of water needs and rainfall deficits indicates the need for the additional irrigation of vineyards in western Poland, especially in very dry years and in June–August. Current research results are helpful in designing vineyard irrigation systems and allow an economical and efficient planning of grapevine irrigation.

Climate warming increases the water needs of plants. The aim of this study was to estimate the water needs of grapevines in central Poland. Water needs were calculated using the crop coefficients method. Reference evapotranspiration was assessed by the Blaney–Criddle’s equation, modified for climate conditions in Poland. Crop coefficients were assumed according to the Doorenbos and Pruitt method. Water needs were calculated using the data from four meteorological stations. Rainfall deficit with the probability occurrence of normal years, medium dry years, and very dry years was determined by the Ostromęcki’s method. Water needs of grapevines during the average growing season were estimated at 438 mm. Upward time trend in the water needs both in the period of May–October and June–August was estimated. Temporal variability in the water needs was significant for all of the provinces. These changes were mainly impacted by a significant increasing tendency in mean air temperature and less by precipitation totals that did not show a clear changing tendency. Due to climate change, vineyards will require irrigation in the near future. The use of resource-efficient irrigation requires a precise estimate of the grapevines’ water needs. The study identified the water requirements for grapevines in central Poland.

Irrigation Advisory Services (IAS) are powerful management instruments aiming to achieve the best efficiency in irrigation water use. So far the literature on farmers’ preferences for a specific scheme design of IAS’ characteristics and the related willingness to pay (WTP) is scant. This study provides evidence on farmers’ preference towards six attributes related to the IAS configuration by using a hypothetical choice experiment. Data were collected from an original survey among 108 farmers from Spain, The Netherlands, Italy, Poland and South Africa. Moreover, we investigated the interplay between these preferences and the individual risk attitude (elicited through a lottery task) as a novel contribution. On average, the results suggest a clear farmers’ preference, especially for receiving weather forecasts from the service and for the feature related to water data recording; as the opposite, on average, crop water requirement seems irrelevant. Finally, we found that farmers’ WTP for the different IAS services varies across countries and, in some cases, also according to the individual risk attitude.

The aim of this study was to estimate the water needs of grapevines (Vitis vinifera L.) in the different regions of Poland. The requirements of grapevines water, considered as the crop evapotranspiration, were determined using the plant coefficient method. The grapevine plants crop evapotranspiration was measured using the reference evapotranspiration and plant coefficients. The plant coefficients were adapted to the reference evapotranspiration that was calculated using the Blaney-Criddle's formula, modified for Polish conditions by Żakowicz. The water needs of grapevines were determined for five agro-climatic regions of Poland with the representative meteorological stations. The calculations of grapevines water requirements were carried out for the thirty-year period determined from 1981 to 2010. The study was based on the six-month growing season established from May 1 to October 31. Four months, including May, June, July and August, were considered as the irrigation period. The highest grapevines water requirements (440 mm) during the growing season, were observed in the northwest and central-east region of Poland. In turn, the lowest water requirements were revealed in the southeast (414 mm) and northeast (415 mm) region of the country. During the irrigation period, the highest grapevines water needs occurred in the central-northwest (355 mm) and central-east (353 mm) region of Poland, while the lowest (329 mm)-in the southeast region of the country. The upward time trend of the grapevines water requirements was observed both in the growing season and in the irrigation period. With the exception of the central-northwest region, this time trend was significant throughout Poland. The highest increase in the water needs of grapevines during the growing season (by 6.9 mm in each subsequent ten-year period) occurred in the central-east and southeast region of Poland. In the irrigation period, the highest rise of grapevines water requirements was noted in the southwest (7.4 mm decade-1) and southeast (7.6 mm decade-1) region of the country. The highest rainfall deficit was observed in the central-northwest region of Poland; 125 mm during the growing season, and 117 mm in the irrigation period.