GESTIONE DELLE RISORSE IDRICHE E TECNICHE DI IRRIGAZIONE DI PRECISIONE

The main aim of the course is 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 28 hours of lectures (in class or remote) and 28 hours of training sessions with specific software (i.e. excel and Qgis) 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.

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