Irrigation in Agroecosystems

Book Abstract

The agroecosystem is one of the most fascinating, purposely human-created functional units, by which human species made a huge leap from predators and nomads to food growers(agriculturists). Irrigation is one of the oldest and still one of the most effective agricultural practices for providing continuous and quality foodstuffs.Water is an essential component of the Earth?s (agro) ecosystems with direct influence on global food production. As a renewable resource, water fluctuates over its phases in the global water cycle and replenishes the root zones(rhizospheres) of cultivated croplands in agroecosystems.Agroecosystem can be defined as a very complex functional unit of biotic (agricultural crops/varieties, animal breeds,uncultivated weeds and accompanied macro/micro biota) and abiotic (minerals, organics, fluids, gasses, water) components with the primary goal of food/feed production. Agroecosystems orientated to cultivated crop production have the major contribution in human food supply given that about 80% of human nutrition represent plant-derived foodstuffs (cereals,vegetables, fruits), while the rest are those of animal origin.