Toward precision irrigation for intensive strawberry cultivation

•The Doñana area in Southeastern Spain has the largest concentration of strawberry producers in Europe.•Aiming at the efficient water use in the strawberry production, a three stages precision irrigation system has been designed.•The best irrigation emitters for strawberry cultivation has been selected.•The optimum irrigation pulse has been estimated based on lab and modeling techniques.•A precision irrigation system has been designed and installed in a commercial strawberry farm. The Doñana area in Southwestern Spain has the largest concentration of strawberry producers in Europe. The annual yield, close to 300,000t, is mainly devoted to the international markets (more than 90%). Due to the high water demand of strawberries and to the environmental concerns of the destination countries, the maximization of water use efficiency is critical for the strawberry sector. Aiming at the efficient water use in the strawberry production, a comprehensive drip irrigation system has been designed, according to precision irrigation principles. The system has been developed based on a three stages methodology. First, the irrigation process carried out by farmers has been assessed to identify inefficiencies in the irrigation system and management. Their performances have been evaluated using indicators such as the Relative Irrigation Supply (RIS), Strawberry Irrigation Water Applied (SWA) and Strawberry Water Footprint Applied (SWFA). The second phase is focused in an accurate irrigation scheduling based in precise crop water requirements estimation and the optimum irrigation pulse design. Finally, the irrigation system has been designed with the prevailing wisdom of meets the needs of the crop in a timely manner and as efficiently and as spatially uniformly as possible. The most appropriate drip irrigation emitters for the particular conditions of the strawberry production in the study area have been selected. The rest of the on-farm irrigation technologies required to control the system have been integrated, including soil water sensors, smart water meters, programmers, electrovalves and weather station. This precision irrigation system has been installed in a commercial strawberry farm during the irrigation season 2013–2014. Also, an application for PC, mobiles and tablets has been developed to provide farmers practical information (e.g. irrigation times) for optimal irrigation scheduling.