WATER RESOURCES MANAGEMENT AND PRECISION IRRIGATION SYSTEMS

The course contributes to achieve the SDGs of Agenda 2023, with particular reference to the goals 2 and 6. The main aim outcomes of the course are to provide innovative tools and methods for the sustainable management of water resources in the agricultural context. During the lessons, topics related to hydrology (surface and underground), mass and energy exchanges within the soil-plant-atmosphere (SPA) system, water resource management techniques for water saving purposes, including deficit irrigation strategies, will be presented. In addition, the potential use of non-conventional resources in agriculture (including urban wastewater) and natural treatment systems (constructed wetlands) for recovering and enhancing wastewater and compounds contained in them will be proposed. The techniques for monitoring the plant and soil water status through remote/proximal sensing and minimally invasive methods will be studied.

The course will be delivered by lectures (in class or remote, 21 hours) and training sessions with specific software (i.e. excel and Qgis, 42 hours) in class or remote mode, and if feasible with technical field visits. If teaching is given in a mixed formula or remotely, necessary changes may be introduced to what was previously stated in order to comply with the current syllabus. Learning assessment may also be carried out on line, should the conditions require it.

Main topics of the course:

1. Introduction to the analysis and assessment of the sustainability of water resources management: integrated management of water resources, adaptive water management, the link between water, energy and food;

2. Basic principles of hydrology (surface and underground water), mass and energy transfer fluxes within the SPA system;

3. Introduction to water saving techniques: deficit irrigation strategies and use of reclaimed water for irrigation treated with nature-based solutions;

4. Introduction to techniques for monitoring the agro-ecosystems status (plant and soil water status): remote sensing and proximal sensing techniques for the characterization of the vegetative vigor, the estimation of crop water requirements and irrigated areas, minimally invasive techniques (such as electrical resistivity tomography);

5. Precision irrigation: principles and application. Interpretation of site-specific variability, precision irrigation strategies and systems, technological and experimental perspectives.

• Elementi di idraulica e idrologia per le scienze agrarie, ambientali e forestali. Ferro V. Milano: McGraw-Hill, 2013;
• L'acqua in agricoltura: gestione sostenibile della pratica irrigua. A cura di Marcello Mastrorilli, Milano: Edagricole, 2015;
• Agricoltura di precisione : metodi e tecnologie per migliorare l'efficienza e la sostenibilità dei sistemi colturali. A cura di Raffaele Casa, Milano: Edagricole, 2016;
• Advanced Remote Sensing Terrestrial Information Extraction and Applications, Editors: Shunlin Liang, Jindi Wang, Academic Press, 2^nd Edition, 2020;
• Handbook of Agricultural Geophysics. Allred, B., Daniels, J. J., & Ehsani, M. R. (Eds.). (2008), CRC Press.;
• Lecture Notes distributed during the course.

Students will take two written tests (i.e., for ongoing and final evaluations). For students who have not passed or taken both written tests and for all the other exam sessions of the course, the evaluation method consists of an "oral interview", on the entire program of the course.

• Illustrate the paradigms of sustainable management of water resources;
• Delineate the main typologies of water saving strategies in agriculture;
• Illustrate the main remote sensing techniques for precision irrigation;
• Define the methods for estimating the irrigation needs;
• Outline the meaning of the soil hydrological constants;
• Describe the methods for monitoring the soil water status;
• Describe sensors and proximal methods for detecting the soil and crop properties.