Abstract

In a climate change scenario with less water availability, it becomes relevant to incorporate a technology that facilitates the efficient and sustainable use of water. To do this, was applied a methodology to estimate the time and frequency of irrigation using technologies that monitor the vegetation health (spatial and temporal), soil moisture, and assess the physical properties of the soil. This method was applied, during three seasons, in small-scale avocado and citrus orchards of 40 farmers in the O’Higgins region, with a strong technological transfer component. The results indicate that the main causes of low crop yields, regarding to the soil properties, corresponded to the low amount of coarse pores (> 50 μm), which did not exceed 15% in 60% of the cases, in addition to an inefficient irrigation management (poor irrigation systems maintenance and practices), has largely limited the productivity of these crops. Water savings were achieved in 96% of the producers, with an average reduction in water consumption of 34% (3,221 m3 ha-1 per season). This allowed an increase in irrigation water use efficiency, a reduction in electricity consumption and an increase in water productivity, depending on the parameter, between 17% to 35% with respect to traditional management. It was concluded that the proposed technological package can considerably reduce the technological gap of the small producers, thus, optimizing the water resources.