Fernando Visconti Reluy

• Ph. D.
• Scientist at Instituto Valenciano de Investigaciones Agrarias-IVIA (GVA)

Mismanagement of the nitrogen (N) fertilization in agriculture leads to low N use efficiency (NUE) and therefore pollution of waters and atmosphere due to NO3− leaching, and N2O and NH3 emissions. The use of N simulation models of the soil-plant system can help improve the N fertilizer management increasing NUE and decreasing N pollution issues. Ho...

The inter-rows in woody crop plantations such as citrus orchards are usually not more than alleyways for agricultural operations thus leading to soil health decline spinning around the compaction and soil organic carbon (SOC) loss. In the present scenario of global warming, the soil on the inter-rows of citrus orchards should be recovered for organ...

Soil health encompasses the effects the uppermost part of the land have on human wellbeing in a broad sense, because soil is where most food ultimately comes from, and because it more inconspicuously fulfils other ecological functions, as important as feeding, for our planet’s welfare, which is ours. Viticulture exploits the soil’s resources from w...

The mulching of agricultural soils has been identified as a viable solution to sequester carbon into the soil, increase soil health, and fight desertification. This is why it is a promising solution for carbon farming in Mediterranean areas. Models are used to project the effects of agricultural practices on soil organic carbon in the future for va...

We aim to develop and transfer to the wine sector a decision support system (DSS) in the frame of WANEGRAPE4.0 project that, integrated into a geographic information system, helps wine growers in i) selecting the most suitable rootstock given some agroecological conditions and oenological objectives; and ii) managing irrigation and nitrogen fertili...

Sustainability in grapevine cultivation requires the precise use of water and fertilizers, particularly nitrogen (N), to produce grapes of the highest quality for winemaking, while simultaneously avoiding harm to the surrounding waters and atmosphere by reducing NO 3 − losses and N 2 O and NH 3 emissions from the vineyards. To address the challenge...

Rootstock election is one of the key decisions when designing a vineyard. Although the research performed to determine the effect they induce in the behaviour of scion varieties is not scarce, it is not easy to have a global idea, as results are usually published scattered. In this work, we re-examine previous research conducted in Spain on rootsto...

Global warming boosted by climate change affects grape quality, with increasing total soluble solids (TSS) content and decreasing total acidity (TA). However, current wine preferences increasingly include moderate alcohol content, higher acidity and the preservation of primary aromas reminiscent of grapes. Therefore, we hypothesised that applying p...

The nutritional diagnosis of crops is carried out through costly elemental analyses of different plant organs, particularly leaves, in the laboratory. However, visible and near-infrared (Vis-NIR) spectroscopy of unprocessed plant samples has a high potential as a faster, non-destructive, environmental-friendly alternative to elemental analyses. In...

The inter-row soils in conventionally run citrus orchards in Eastern Spain lose fertility, either physically, chemically, or biologically, as a consequence of machinery traffic and the use of herbicides. In order to regain inter-row soil fertility, two grass cover management alternatives to the commonly used herbicide-kept bare management, namely,...

In addition to aluminum and other heavy metal toxicities, acidic soils also feature nutrient deficits that are not easily overcome by merely adding the required amounts of mineral fertilizers. One of the most critically scarce nutrients in acidic soils is phosphorus, which reacts with aluminum and iron to form phosphates that keep soil phosphorus a...

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fpls.2022.866053.].

Inadequate nitrogen fertilizing practices lead to low nitrogen uptake efficiency (NUE), which increases water NO3⁻ pollution, as well as N2O emissions to the atmosphere. In order to increase the NUE and decrease the N losses as NO3⁻ and N2O from the soil-plant system, accurate data about optimum crop N concentrations and dry matter production throu...

The use of more salt stress-tolerant vine rootstocks can be a sustainable strategy for adapting traditional grapevine cultivars to future conditions. However, how the new M1 and M4 rootstocks perform against salinity compared to conventional ones, such as the 1103-Paulsen, had not been previously assessed under real field conditions. Therefore, a f...

Vineyard calcareous soils are usually low in organic matter, which makes them prone to physical, chemical, and biological degradation. Besides, these soils are also usually poor in various nutrients in plant-available form, e.g., iron. To make up for this lack of soil fertility, on the one hand, manures, and on the other, iron chelates are usually...

Nowadays, the continuous organic carbon (OC) assessment in soil and its various particle-size fractions is needed to correctly estimate the soil organic matter (OM) contents and dynamics. However, the existence of several widely used analytical methods for OC and OM determination hinders the comparison of OC and OM data taken by different laborator...

Observed variations in the ground electrical conductivity (σb*) measurements obtained with EMI instruments depend on several soil proxies that influence crop growth and development such as salinity (σe), contents of water (θw), clay (wc) and organic matter (wom) and bulk density (ρb). However, the relative contributions of all these to σb* are unkn...

En el actual escenario del cambio climático es necesario adoptar medidas de adaptación a sus efectos y de mitigación de sus causas. En este sentido, el acolchado con paja de arroz de los suelos agrícolas puede contribuir simultáneamente a ambos objetivos a través de la mejora de la fertilidad y el secuestro de carbono del suelo. Para conocer cómo s...

Salinity and water deficit are two major issues for agricultural development in Algeria. The Lower Cheliff plain, northwestern Algeria, is, furthermore, characterised by semi-arid Mediterranean climate, and soils with high clay content. Our study area was a 4 ha farm located in Oued Rhiou and another 1 ha farm located in Ouarizane, both upstream in...

The wet dichromate methods for the quantification of the soil organic carbon on the basis of the reductant ability of the soil organic matter have been widely used and still they are nowadays. The results obtained with these methods depart from the reference dry combustion with CO2 measurement and the discrepancies are interpreted in terms of incom...

Optimizing water use in vineyards is crucial for ensuring the sustainability of viticulture in semi-arid regions, and this may be achieved by minimizing direct water evaporation from the soil through the use of mulching. In this context, the current study aimed at assessing the combined effects of the vine-row application of an organic mulch (vine...

By using different physical foundations and technologies, many probes have been developed for on-site soil salinity appraisal in the last forty years. In order to better understand their respective technical and practical advantages and constraints, comparisons among probes are needed. In this study, three different probes, based on electrical resi...

La red de drenajes de la Vega Baja del Segura asegura la productividad agraria de la zona gracias a que mantiene los niveles piezométricos por debajo de la zona radicular y a que sirve para lavar los excesos de sales aportados a los suelos por el riego. Para evaluar el funcionamiento de esta red de drenajes en un evento de lluvias intensas e inunda...

Electromagnetic induction (EMI) measurements (σb*) are widely used for the survey of several soil attributes, among which basic properties such as salinity (σe), water content (θw), clay (wc), organic matter (wom) and bulk density (ρb) stand out. In usual practice, purely empirical models relating one of these properties to σb* are calibrated at se...

El melón es un cultivo moderadamente sensible a las sales del suelo y, en consecuencia, su producción se ve mermada en condiciones de salinidad. No obstante, la exposición a niveles moderados de sales también influye sobre la calidad del melón mejorándola, lo cual puede compensar al agricultor. En tierras afectadas por sales como es la parte final...

En la actualidad las tecnologías de la información y la comunicación están generando una enorme cantidad de datos que podemos recibir en nuestro correo electrónico, o en nuestro teléfono móvil prácticamente en tiempo real. En el ámbito agrícola los datos que se han recogido tradicionalmente son los meteorológicos. En los últimos años también se est...

The melon crop is moderately sensitive to soil salinity and, as a consequence, its yield decreases under saline conditions. Nevertheless, the exposure to moderate salinity also influences the melon quality by improving it, which offers compensation to the farmer. As a consequence, in moderately salt-affected lands, like the traditional irrigation a...

New methods for the non-destructive, rapid and reliable assessment of leaf chloride (Cl−) are needed in many agricultural salt-threatened areas throughout the World. Although portable visible near-infrared spectrometers could be useful for this task, accompanying models for leaf Cl− assessment on basis their visible near-infrared (Vis-NIR) spectra...

Eighty-three rows of leaf chloride and reflectance data with the following column keys: row identification (ID) from 1 to 83, salt treatment (SALT) from lowest (1) to highest (8), model development set (SET) which can be training (TRAIN.) or testing (TEST.), day of the year (DOY) and reflectance between 380 and 1000 nm.

Produced water (PW) is the largest by-product of the oil and gas industry. Its management is both economically and environmentally costly. PW reuse for irrigation offers an alternative to current disposal practices while providing water to irrigators in drylands. The aim of this investigation was to evaluate the environmental effects of irrigation...

La salinización del suelo por causa del riego es un grave problema que amenaza la sostenibilidad de la agricultura. Mitigar este problema pasa por asegurar un buen drenaje de los suelos, así como por aplicar las prácticas de manejo del riego y del cultivo más adecuadas según la calidad del agua, el clima y el suelo. Para ayudar a decidir a los agri...

La medida de la conductividad eléctrica a 25 ºC (CE25) de la solución del suelo, de un extracto acuoso de este, o del mismo suelo, es el fundamento de varios métodos para la evaluación de su salinidad. El objetivo de las mediciones de CE25 en la agricultura es estimar el estrés salino sobre la planta y servir así de base para la planificación de un...

Persimmon cultivation is gaining importance in many semi-arid areas of the world. In this chapter, it is summarized the existing information in the literature on persimmon water requirements and responses to variations in water supply and quality. It is concluded that persimmon water needs can be particularly high during summer, when the crop coeff...

Aims: Soil acidity decreases soil fertility and grapevine growth. Aluminum toxicity has been recognized as one of the most common causes of reduced grape yields in acid vineyard soils. The main aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of two liming materials, i.e. dolomitic lime and sugar foam, on a vineyard cultivated in an acid soil. Methods...

La modernización proyectada para el sistema de riego en la zona de regadío tradicional de la Vega Baja del Segura genera cierta oposición en los agricultores. Esto es debido al reconocido efecto sobre el lavado de las sales de los suelos que tiene el regar a manta con un cierto exceso de agua. En el presente trabajo se presenta la simulación de var...

Los suelos agrícolas presentan capacidad para el secuestro de CO2 en forma de materia orgánica. No obstante, dicha capacidad apenas se ha cuantificado ni cartografiado para territorios amplios y de gran diversidad de cultivos, como es la Comunidad Valenciana. Esta tarea se hace necesaria si se quiere dimensionar correctamente el papel de la agricul...

Persimmon trees grafted on D. lotus have been found to be extensively affected by leaf necrosis in the important cropping area of Valencia (E Spain). Although this problem has been attributed to chloride toxicity, this association had not been rigorously demonstrated. In addition the chloride and salinity tolerance of persimmons grafted on D. lotus...

Soil salinity is an important issue constraining the productivity of irrigation agriculture around the world. The standard method for soil salinity assessment is based on a laboratory method that is cumbersome and gives rise to limitations for data-intensive works. The use of sensors for the assessment of the apparent electrical conductivity (EC) o...

Objectives The NITIRSOIL is a one-dimensional transient-state model with monthly time step for predicting main nitrogen transformations and transport in soils cultivated with irrigated crops [1]. A global sensitivity analysis (SA) was carried out to know how the uncertainty in each input factor of the NITIRSOIL model propagates to each of its main...

En el presente trabajo se presenta un ejemplo de utilización del sistema de ayuda a la decisión DSS-SALTIRSOIL para la recomendación del riego en una plantación de caqui “Rojo Brillante” en la zona de riegos del Magro de la Ribera del Xúquer (Valencia). De acuerdo con la simulación realizada con datos de la zona representativos de su meteorología (...

Aluminium toxicity has been recognized as one of the most common causes of reduced grape yields in vineyard acid soils. The main aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of two liming materials, i.e. dolomitic lime and sugar foam, on a vineyard cultivated in an acid soil. The effects were studied in two soil layers (0-30 and 30-60 cm), as well...

Este artículo es continuación de un trabajo previo (de Paz et al., 2016) en el que se describió de forma detallada la problemática de la fitotoxicidad por cloruro en el cultivo del caqui. En este segundo artículo, tan solo se exponen las prácticas agronómicas generales que pueden resultar más eficaces para reducir la fitotoxicidad por cloruro, y qu...

La gran expansión del cultivo del caqui en la Comunidad Valenciana puede verse frenada por la aparición de la fisiopatía por toxicidad al cloruro. Esta afección que cursa con necrosis foliar afecta al crecimiento del árbol, a su productividad y también a la calidad de la fruta y al tratamiento de desastringencia poscosecha del fruto. No existe un ú...

Early diagnosis of specific chloride toxicity in persimmon trees requires the reliable and fast determination of the leaf chloride content, which is usually performed by means of a cumbersome, expensive and time-consuming wet analysis. A methodology has been developed in this study as an alternative to determine chloride in persimmon leaves using n...

For millennia, irrigation has been one of the main driving forces of civilization. Given that the world human population is estimated to reach 9 billion in the next 40 years, irrigation is going to be a key factor in food security. However, irrigation makes use of slowly renewable or just non-renewable natural resources, mainly freshwater, soil, an...

La agricultura de regadío de la Comunidad Valenciana se caracteriza por una utilización intensiva del suelo y el agua, lo cual amenaza su sostenibilidad. Una de las principales amenazas es la salinización, la cual puede agravarse en los próximos años debido a la aridez del clima en un escenario de cambio climático. Por esta razón es importante disp...

Soil hydraulic parameters are important for irrigation scheduling. In the domain of “precision irrigation”, knowledge of the spatial distribution of these parameters is useful in determining the maximum irrigation rate for each field in a catchment. This study focuses on the development of a new methodology to assess the spatial distribution of the...

Diospyros lotus L. is advantageously used as rootstock for Diospyros kaki L. cv. “Rojo Brillante” in most plantations of Eastern Spain. However, one of the few drawbacks of D. lotus L. as rootstock, is the high sensitivity to soil salinity, and specifically chloride, it imparts to the scion, which is visually detected as an extensive late season le...

La salinización del suelo agrícola es un problema que se presenta asociado al regadío en zonas de clima árido-semiárido, con suelos de baja permeabilidad, aguas de riego de baja calidad y cultivos de escasa tolerancia. Disponer de un portal web donde se ofrece información sobre la salinidad del suelo se hace imprescindible sobre todo en aquellas zo...

Soil acidification is a process of degradation that becomes more pronounced as a result of various human activities, but can be controlled through appropriate soil management. Calcium, magnesium and phosphorus deficiencies along with aluminium (Al) toxicity are considered the major constraints to plant growth in acid vineyard soils. The main aim of...

Affordable, commercial dielectric sensors of the frequency domain reflectometry (FDR) and capacitance–conductance (CC) types estimate the dielectric permittivity (εb) and electrical conductivity (σb) of bulk soil. In this work, an equation was obtained to estimate the pore-water electrical conductivity (σp), which is closely related to the soil sal...

Irrigation in semi-arid areas can be optimally scheduled using models that maximize accuracy while minimizing data requirements. In this work, the validation of the one-dimensional transient-state SALTIRSOIL_M model able to monthly simulate the soil water content (θ), downward water flux (D), and the electrical conductivity in the saturation extrac...

Capacitance sensors such as Decagon 10HS and 5TE are increasingly used for soil water content (θ) estimation. However, their reliability and limitations in clayey soils irrigated with saline waters have not been completely characterized under field conditions. Four levels of soil water content were combined with six levels of soil salinity in twent...

Process-based models could be used to predict the soil saturated extract salinity from extractable ion contents. However, a rigorous validation of such models for this purpose had not been carried out. A process-based model to predict the main inorganic ion composition, electrical conductivity, and pH of the saturated paste extract from extractable...

La vid presenta unas demandas nutricionales relativamente limitadas en comparación con otros cultivos. Este hecho en combinación con la capacidad de acumulación de nutrientes en sus partes leñosas, y con su gran capacidad de enraizamiento, explican el hecho de que este cultivo responda, de forma lenta y marginal a los programas de fertilización. Po...

Modellers of the exchange of sodium, potassium, calcium and magnesium in soils have to choose from up to six different equations based on the mass action law paradigm (mainly Gapon, Vanselow, Gaines‐Thomas and Kerr) and up to six different binary cation combinations. In this article a methodology to choose the most appropriate equation and binary c...

Soil salinization in irrigated areas is a degradation process that harms both crop productivity and environment. According to current predictions the climate change in the Mediterranean region will be accompanied by changes in the precipitation patterns and increases in the average temperatures. These new conditions could affect the soil salt build...

1. Background & Objectives Several N simulation models with different levels of complexity from simple screening tools to research applications have been developed during the last decades. The applicability of a model is related to its complexity. The high data requirements of complex models reduce their applicability to specific conditions. On the...

Irrigation scheduling in salt-threatened soils must include an estimation of the leaching requirement (LR). Many models have been developed over the last 40 years for assessing the LR, and they should be compared on common grounds to guide potential users. The LR for salts (LR gamma), chloride (LRCI) and SAR (LRSAR) and therefore the eventual LR wa...

The knowledge of the soil saturated hydraulic conductivity (Ks) is essential for irrigation management purposes and for hydrological modelling. Several attempts have been done to estimate Ks in base of a number of soil parameters. However, a reliable enough model for qualitative Ks estimation based on the expert assessment of field characteristics...

The SALTIRSOIL model predicts soil salinity, sodicity and alkalinity in irrigated land using basic information on soil, climate, crop, irrigation management and water quality. It extends the concept of the WATSUIT model to include irrigation and crop management practices, advances in the calculation of evapotranspiration and new algorithms for the...

SALTIRSOIL (SALTs in IRrigated SOILs) is a model for the medium to long term simulation of soil salinity in irrigated, well-drained lands. Once the algorithms were verified, the objective of our study was to validate SALTIRSOIL under one of several water quality and management scenarios in Mediterranean agriculture. Because drip and surface are the...

The electrical conductivity of the water within the soil pores (ECp) measured with the WET sensor, appears to be a reliable estimate of soil salinity. A methodology combining the use of the WET sensor along with geostatistics was developed to delimit and evaluate soil salinity within an irrigated area under arid to semiarid Mediterranean climate in...

SALTIRSOIL is a model for the prediction of soil salinity, sodicity and alkalinity in irrigated well-drained lands. These three characteristics are respectively assessed through the electrical conductivity and the sodium adsorption ratio of the soil saturation extract (ECse and SARse), and the pH of the soil saturated paste (pHsp). A global sensiti...

The electrical conductivity at 25°C (EC25) of soil solutions or irrigation waters is the standard property for assessing salinity. Many models for soil salinity prediction calculate the major ion composition of the soil solution. The electrical conductivity of a solution can be determined from its composition through several different empirical equ...

and extended abstracts submitted to the Global Forum on Salinization and Climate Change 136 GIS-SALTIRSOIL: a new tool to evaluate and modelling soil salinity at regional scale; an application to evaluate the climate change effect in an irrigated salinity risk area absTraCT Soil salinization in irrigated areas is a soil degradation process that aff...

A validation exercise of the SALTIRSOIl model developed to predict average major ion content, pH and electrical conductivity in soils under risk of salinisation, has been carried out in two irrigated horticultural subplots cropped to water melon and pepper . Calculated values were compared with depth-averaged measurements made in saturated pastes f...

SALTIRSOIL (SALTs in Irrigation SOILs) is a soil salinisation model able to make accurate predictions of soil salinity, sodicity and alkalinity at soil water saturation using no more information than that obtained during most regular land surveys. It is a deterministic, static and functional (capacity-type) process-based model composed in turn of t...

En esta presentación encontrarás explicado conceptos básicos de la salinidad y sodicidad enfocados en los cultivos agrícolas de la vega baja del rio Segura. Asi como también un ejemplo sencillo de uso del modelo SALTIRSOIL en el calculo de la dosis de riego para diferentes aguas de riego.

Calcite and gypsum are salts of major ions characterized by poor solubility compared with other salts that may precipitate in soils. Knowledge of calcite and gypsum solubility products in water-saturated soil samples substantially contributes to a better assessment of processes involved in soil salinity. The new SALSOLCHEMIS code for chemical equil...

Many empirical equations have been developed to predict the properties of saturation extracts, primarily electrical conductivity, from the properties of soil water extracts of 1 to 5 ratio. Soil water 1:5 extracts are more rapidly and reproducibly prepared than saturation extracts. However, the electrical conductivity of saturation extracts (ECse)...

Calcite equilibrium characterisation of soil solutions is needed in order to provide soil salinity modellers with reliable solubility constants in solutions where the hypothesis of equilibrium can be accepted.A total of 134 soil samples were taken from 39 sites at 2, 3, or 4 depths per site, down to a maximum depth of 95 cm, during a survey in the...

The GIS-SALTIRSOIL model is being developed in the framework of a project for soil salinity state and risk appraisal in Mediterranean agricultural areas. SALTIRSOIL calculates the composition of the soil solution, mainly saturation extract, given an irrigation water composition and amount, crop type, climate features and basic physical and chemical...

A new simulation model, SALTIRSOIL (SALTs in IRrigation SOILs), is presented in this work. SALTIRSOIL has been programmed in Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) as a MS Excel Spreadsheet Application. SALTIRSOIL consists of two main modules, one to assess the water balance and another to calculate the major inorganic ion composition in soil solution...

Salt affected soil is one of the main problems decreasing the productivity of irrigated agriculture in the Mediterranean area. Simulation models in combination with geographical information systems (GISs) could be used to evaluate the risk of salinization at a regional scale. In this study, two logical models (Pla and Riverside) were combined in a...

Soil is one of the main non-renewable natural resources in the world. In the Valencian Community (Mediterranean coast of Spain), it is especially important because agriculture and forest biomass exploitation are two of the main economic activities in the region. More than 44% of the total area is under agriculture and 52% is forested. The frequentl...

A linear equation to relate total ionic concentration to electrical conductivity (EC) in natural aqueous systems from low to medium level salt content was derived from the theory of EC in aqueous solutions. Some of the empirical equations used in soil science to characterise the salinity of soil and water based on the EC can be reduced to that equa...