Real-time monitoring and adaptive irrigation control for improved water use efficiency.

Mediterranean agroecosystems are increasingly exposed to environmental pressures driven by climate change, including reduced precipitation, rising temperatures, and growing competition for water resources. These trends intensify uncertainty in water availability and pose significant challenges to irrigation management and long-term agricultural sustainability. Improving irrigation efficiency has therefore become a key strategy to optimize water use while maintaining crop productivity under water-limited conditions.

This study presents the development and field application of a low-cost, automated, and smart irrigation system for horticultural crops, designed to enhance water management in Mediterranean agroecosystems. The system was tested during the 2025 growing season on two tomato crop varieties in north-western Sardinia. The area is characterized by intensive agriculture and increasing pressure on groundwater resources.

The experimental setup integrates an intelligent control unit with a local weather station and soil moisture sensors, enabling continuous monitoring of key environmental variables, including air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, solar radiation, precipitation, and soil water content. Irrigation scheduling was based on real-time soil moisture measurements in relation to field capacity and meteorological conditions, allowing adaptive control of irrigation timing and applied volumes. Smart irrigation data collected over the entire growing season were analyzed and compared with a conventional irrigation management approach. Preliminary results indicate that real-time monitoring combined with adaptive irrigation control significantly improves water use efficiency, reducing irrigation inputs without compromising crop performance.

The study highlights the potential of smart irrigation systems to address uncertainty in water resources by supporting data-driven decision-making and adaptive management. Beyond agronomic benefits, such systems represent operational tools for precision agriculture approaches aimed at sustainable water use and climate adaptation in Mediterranean farming systems.