The primary natural source of water for the Hass avocado crop in the tropics is precipitation. However, this is insufficient to provide most crops’ water requirements due to the spatial and temporal variability. This study aims to demonstrate that Hass avocado requires irrigation in Colombia, and this is done by analyzing the dynamics of local precipitation regimes and the influence of Intertropical Convergence Zone phenomena (ITCZ) on the irrigation requirement (IR). This study was carried out in Colombia’s current and potential Hass avocado production zones (PPA) by computing and mapping the monthly IR, and classifying months found to be in deficit and excess. The influence of ITCZ on IR by performing a metric relevance analysis on weights of optimized Artificial Neural Networks was computed. The water deficit map illustrates a 99.8% of PPA requires water irrigation at least one month a year. The movement of ITCZ toward latitudes far to those where PPA is located between May to September decreases precipitation and consequently increases the IR area of Hass avocado. Water deficit visualization maps could become a novel and powerful tool for Colombian farmers when scheduling irrigation in those months and periods identified in these maps.
A methodology towards assessing soil salinity hazard at irrigated areas of Colombia was developed based on both electrical conductivity and solubility of salts in water. First, irrigated areas were identified; and then, their physicochemical parameters were determined for characterizing electrical conductivity of water (ECw) as well as predicting salt contents in water by employing the Solsariego model. Afterwards, levels of salinity hazard were assessed by matching classes of ECw and solubility of salts in water. Finally, the salinity hazard was mapped for each irrigated zone. As a major conclusion, we consider that the methodological approach based on water quality assessment (ECw, salt contents, and their solubility in the irrigated water) allowed to prioritize hazard level. Hence, we can address activities for managing the soil salinity in the case study.
En este estudio se valoraron los factores de sostenibilidad en el minidistrito de riego de la Bella del municipio de Pereira-Colombia que emplea el método de riego localizado de alta frecuencia (RLAF). El estudio se fundamentó en la identificación y la valoración de factores e indicadores que inciden en la sostenibilidad en sistemas RLAF a escala real. La valoración de los factores de la sostenibilidad se realizó por medio de un análisis multicriterio (AHP) y el proceso estadístico de agrupación de intervalos que permitió definir cinco niveles de valoración de la sostenibilidad de cada predio después del análisis multicriterio. Los resultados muestran que los factores que más contribuyen a la sostenibilidad de los sistemas que emplean RLAF, son la rentabilidad y la calidad del agua. Los factores limitantes para la sostenibilidad fueron la disponibilidad de agua y la operación del sistema RLAF, debido al conflicto entre la oferta y la demanda en épocas secas y la ausencia de conocimientos técnicos para establecer las reglas de operación para la aplicación de caudales y seguir una guía de operación y mantenimiento de los sistemas RLAF. El estudio permitió estimar un nivel de sostenibilidad moderado para los sistemas RLAF de ASOLABELLA.
Under tropical conditions, Hass avocado irrigation is a controversial issue due to insufficient scientific evidence. The rapid progression of technological advances and its incorporation in agriculture have expanded options to improve the irrigation scheduling (IS) of Hass avocado. The concept featuring those technological advances in agriculture is digital agriculture (DA). Here, we present a mixture of well-known studies in the Hass avocado irrigation focused on proximal sensing (PS) technologies and recent studies emphasizing the potential of remote sensing (RS), and application technologies to schedule the irrigation. PS takes advantage of the soil or trees' proximity to output reliable measurements with a high temporal resolution, while RS provides a broad set of spectral data in continuous and large areas that can be transformed into crop-related biophysical variables. Applications – a term grouping mobile (smartphone) apps, desktop programs, and web-based platforms – offers portability, high precision, and graphic visualization of variables obtained or estimated by sensors. Integrating RS and PS technologies through user-friendly applications can represent a suitable option to improve Hass avocado irrigation in developing countries. Our review is presented in the following sections: general introduction, DA approach definition, use of proximal sensing, use of remote sensing, and scheduling irrigation applications.
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