Water Use Archives

2025 Peru

Infrared thermography as a tool for measuring water stress index in avocado cultivars ( Persea Americana M.)

Authors: Ramos-Fernández, L., Galindo-Sánchez, MM., Núñez-Alfaro, H., Espinoza-Núñez, E., Pino-Vargas, E., del Águila-Ríos, S.

Avocado cultivation is susceptible to water stress during the flowering stage and early fruit growth. This stress can cause premature fruit drop and exacerbate alternate bearing. Objective. To determine the crop water stress index (CWSI) in three avocado cultivars (Hass, Fuerte, and Zutano) under different irrigation conditions using infrared thermography. Materials and methods. The study was conducted in the fall of 2023 at the Canaán Agricultural Experiment Station, Ayacucho, Peru. One hundred

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2025 Chile

Telecoupled social–ecological systems: the case of avocado in Chile

Authors: Ortiz AMD, Baeza-González S, Jensen M, Huaico Malhue A, Lavín-Oviedo U, Celis-Diez JL

The popularity of avocados has increased globally in alternative diets, alongside its integral role in Latin American cuisine. In Chile, avocados are grown extensively and intensively in orchards in the dry and Mediterranean climate of Central Chile. Avocado is a water-demanding crop and the severe water crisis in Chile has called attention to the conflicts caused by its water use. As most of the pressure to produce avocado comes from international demand but results in impacts on native ecosystems

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2025 Chile

Avocado drought stress alleviation through different soil amendments

Authors: Beyá-Marshall, Victor; Moraga, Felipe; Galaz, Bastián; Kremer, Cristián; Fichet, Thomas; Seguel, Oscar

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Under the uncertain scenario of water availability for irrigation, plants are often exposed to drought periods, which can negatively impact their vegetative growth and yield potential. To address this issue, various soil amendments including inorganic, organic, and biological treatments, have been investigated as solutions for mitigating water stress. However, comparative studies of different amendments are lacking. The aim of this study was to assess the efficacy of various soil amendments

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2025 Peru

Avocado production in different biomes throughout Peru: do differing cultivation practices translate into differences in environmental impacts?

Authors: Elorrieta-Mendoza, Alvaro,; Sanchez-Matos, Joan; Bentín, Jorge; Debrock, Sébastien; Mathot, Claire; Stelian, Louis; Soengas, Beatriz; Kahhat, Ramzy; Vázquez-Rowe, Ian

PURPOSE: Avocado production in Peru takes place in different biomes and under different agricultural systems (e.g., conventional, organic, or agroforestry). Therefore, it is important to understand differences in the environmental profile of avocado production within the diversity of these cultivation systems. Hence, the main objective of the study was to conduct a cradle-to-gate attributional Life Cycle Assessment of avocado production in Peru by small and medium-sized producers, under multiple scenarios to provide insights for enhancing environmental performance and including a sensitivity and uncertainty analysis. METHODS: Primary data were collected from 80 small and medium-sized producers (i.e., 355 ha) for the year 2023 to build the life cycle inventory, which was supported by the ecoinvent database. SimaPro was used to integrate inventory flows and assessment methods. The latter include a range of methods, such as IPCC 2021 to estimate GHG emissions, and AWARE to calculate water scarcity impacts, for which Peruvian-specific characterization factors (CFs) were incorporated. Biodiversity impacts were evaluated through the LUIS biodiversity footprint for land-use intensity and the product biodiversity footprint to identify broader biodiversity loss drivers. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: The results demonstrate differences in environmental impacts between regions, based on type of production system, variety of avocado, altitude or ecological region, especially in terms of consumptive water use (i.e., scarcity) and biodiversity impacts. Water scarcity values ranged from 1.2 to 764 m³eq/kg depending on regionalized CFs. Biodiversity assessment methods suggest that avocado cultivation poses greater risks to the Amazon rainforest and the Andean Highlands compared to the coastal desert. Regarding GHG emissions, results ranged from 156 to 728 g CO₂eq/kg depending on the variety, within a middle range for fruits and vegetables as compared to the global literature. Agroforestry systems showed lower impacts compared to monoculture systems, particularly thanks to carbon sequestration. CONCLUSIONS: and recommendations. For both water scarcity and biodiversity, results have shown to be highly site-specific, and spatial resolution is needed for decision-making on a case-to-case basis. GW impacts also showed relevant variability, especially when comparing agroforestry systems in the Amazon basin, where GHG emissions were considerably low thanks to enhanced carbon capture, with other production systems across the country. In any case, GHG emissions were found to be in the lower range as compared to previous avocado studies in scientific literature. Optimizing fertilizer use and adopting efficient irrigation methods, while improving irrigation measurements, were identified as key strategies to reduce environmental burdens across all systems.

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2023 Chile, Florida, South Africa

Single and basal crop coefficients for estimation of water use of tree and vine woody crops with consideration of fraction of ground cover, height, and training system for Mediterranean and warm temperate fruit and leaf crops

Authors: Pereira, L. S.,; Paredes, Paula; Oliveira, C. M.; Montoya, Francisco; López-Urrea, Ramón; Salman

This paper reviews the research on the FAO56 single and basal crop coefficients of fruit trees and vines performed over the past twenty-five years and focus on Mediterranean and warm temperate trees and vines. Two companion papers (López-Urrea et al., (2023) Single and basal crop coefficients for estimation of water use of tree and vine woody crops with consideration of fraction of ground cover, height, and training system for temperate climate fruit crops. Irrig Sci (submitted); Paredes et al. (2023) Single and basal crop coefficients for estimation of water use of tree and vine woody crops with consideration of fraction of ground cover, height, and training system for tropical and subtropical fruit crops. Irrig Sci (submitted)) are dedicated, respectively, to Temperate and to Tropical and Subtropical trees and vines. The main objective of the paper is to update available information on single (Kc) and basal (Kcb) standard crop coefficients, and to provide for updating and completing the FAO56 tabulated Kc and Kcb. The Kc is the ratio between non-stressed crop evapotranspiration (ETc) and the grass reference evapotranspiration (ETₒ), while Kcb is the ratio between crop transpiration (Tc) and ETₒ. The selection and analysis of the literature were performed considering only studies that adhere to the FAO56 method, thus computing ETₒ with the FAO Penman–Monteith ETₒ equation, the ASCE grass ETₒ, or another equation that could be properly related with the former, and ETc, or Tc, was obtained using properly accurate field measurements on crops under pristine or eustress conditions. The crops considered refer to Mediterranean (grapes and olive) and warm temperate areas (avocado, citrus, persimmon, loquat, and tea) fruit and leaf crops. Papers satisfying the above conditions were selected to provide for standard Kc and Kcb data. Preferably, studies should report on the crop cultivar and rootstock, planting density or plant spacing, fraction of ground cover (fc), crop height (h), crop age and training systems. Additional information was collected on pruning and irrigation method and strategy. The ranges of reported Kc and Kcb values were grouped according to crop density in relation with fc, h, and the training system, namely vase, hedgerow, or trellis systems. Literature collected Kc or Kcb values were compared with previously tabulated Kc and Kcb values, namely in FAO56, to define the standard Kc and Kcb values for the referred selected crops. The tabulated values are, therefore, transferable to other locations and aimed for use in crop water requirement computations and modeling, mainly for irrigation planning and scheduling, and for supporting improved water use and saving in orchards and vineyards.

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2024 Mexico

Water Footprint and Water Sustainability of Agroindustrial Avocado Production in a Warm Tropical Climate Municipality: A Case Study in the Michoacan Avocado Belt in Central México

Authors: Fuerte-Velázquez, Diana J.; Gómez-Tagle, Alberto

Water is a fundamental resource for ecosystems, humans, and the development of all economic sectors; it is necessary to identify and evaluate its environmental pressures and impacts. The water footprint (WF) is an appropriate indicator for the consumption of water used to produce a product. The present study uses this tool to evaluate the green and blue water requirements and the sustainability of irrigation water use for agroindustrial avocado production in Ziracuaretiro, Michoacán (2012–2021).

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