Viability, method and device for horticultural crops with brackish and marine water
Abstract
The method that humanity has adopted to hydrate and thus give life to the plants, imitating the model that was most visible, is the rain. However, the great secret to the contribution of nutrients to the vegetables, the irrigation itself, is on earth, in the groundwater layers and aquifers that hoard and administer the water, keeping every drop of rain and distributing the water through the basins, underground rivers, watering indirectly from the mountain to the sea. The key is in the different circulation velocities of the groundwater because of the nature of the substrates. However, agriculture has taken irrigation from above as we know it and has focused especially on drainage capacity. From this point of view, saline water is not beneficial for irrigated agriculture, but may be the only source of irrigation water in large arid regions, especially in developing countries, where the extreme scarcity of freshwater and the rapidly growing population require more water.
When considering the possibility of watering with seawater without desalinating, always by means of capillarity systems, it is essential to take into consideration the different strata of soils, the distance to the groundwater, the composition of seawater, the capacity of drainage, chemical reactions of the soil with salts, etc. The modification of any of these parameters can produce effects of salinization, loss of humidity or desertification among others.
This study presents the accumulated experience through the joint collaboration between the Centre for Research in Security and food Control of the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (CRESCA) and the Aqua Maris Foundation in capillary irrigation and it proposes a system and device that allows the controlled development of different vegetal species using brackish and seawater.
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Introduction
The United Nations, within the framework of its sustainable development programme called Agenda 21, establishes that desertification is the degradation of land in arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas resulting from various factors, including variations climatic and human activities.
Desertification affects about one-sixth of the world's population, 70 percent of all drylands, which represent 3.6 billion hectares, and a quarter of the world's total land surface.
The most obvious impact of desertification, in addition to widespread poverty, is the degradation of 3.3 billion hectares of the total grassland area, constituting 73% of grasslands with a low potential for human and animal load capacity; Decrease in soil fertility and structure in approximately 47 percent of dry areas that are rainfed, marginal farmland; and degradation of irrigated farmland (United Nations 1992).
The main causes of desertification are climate, erosion, ecological factors-the type of soil and ecosystem-and human action. Erosion is the prelude to desertification, because when the air and water drag the surface particles of the soil, it loses the fertile layer, and remains unprotected, being increasingly slow regeneration of the vegetation cover. Difficult-to-drain terrain, torrential rains or drought are other phenomena responsible for desertification.
But the most damaging factor, together with climate change, is human activity. Fires, indiscriminate logging, overexploitation of aquifers, intensive crops, with massive use of chemicals, and some forestry practices (forest or mountain cultivation) are some of the examples of human intervention. In the world there are more than a hundred countries with arid and semi-arid conditions. Africa is the continent most damaged by desertification; He is followed by Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean. Also, southern Europe and Spain (FAO 2000).
In counterpart, about 70% of the entire planet is covered by liquid water, being the most abundant resource in the surface layer of the earth. However, its distribution is very variable: in some regions it is very abundant, while in others it is scarce. However, the total amount of water on the planet does not change (Aparicio 1987) and moreover, about 97,5 % of this 70% of liquid water is saltwater.
Water exists in solid (ICE), liquid and gaseous (water vapor) form that can be observed in oceans, rivers, clouds, rain and other forms of precipitation in frequent changes of state. Thus, surface water evaporates water from clouds precipitate, rain seeps into ground and runs to the sea. The whole of processes involved in the circulation and conservation of water on the planet is called hydrological cycle or, more precisely, geohydrologic cycle (Pidwirny 2006).
Fresh water is a renewable resource, but it is also finite. Around the world there are many signs that human use of water exceeds sustainable levels. The depletion of groundwater, the low flow of rivers and the worsening of pollution levels are among the most obvious indicators of water stress (Postel 2000). Thus, for example, global demand for water has tripled approximately since the mid-twentieth century (McCully 1996).
The World Health Organization (WHO) considers that the adequate amount of water for human consumption (drinking, cooking, personal hygiene, and household cleaning) is 50 L/HAB-day. The necessary contribution to agriculture, industry and, of course, to the conservation of aquatic, fluvial and, in general, freshwater-dependent ecosystems must be added to these quantities. Considering these parameters, it is considered a minimum amount of 100 L/HAB-day. (Howard & Bartram 2003).
Conclusion
The results obtained experimentally allow affirming that the direct use of brackish or marine water as irrigation fluid, as long as it is administered groundwater, is viable. However, this necessary condition is not enough. It is necessary to have a substrate as a filter with certain characteristics (composition and particle size) that allow reducing the saline content and maintaining the humidity at a sufficient height so that the roots of the cultivated vegetables can absorb enough water and nutrients without reaching toxicity limits.
In addition, it is necessary to keep in mind the climatic influence (rain, wind, temperature...) As long as this experience is not carried out inside a greenhouse where the environmental conditions can be regulated.
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