Person:
Aldaz Lusarreta, Alaitz

Profile Picture

Email Address

person.page.identifierURI

https://academica-e.unavarra.es/handle/2454/51406

Birth Date

Job Title

Last Name

Aldaz Lusarreta

First Name

Alaitz

person.page.departamento

Ingeniería

person.page.instituteName

IS-FOOD. Research Institute on Innovation & Sustainable Development in Food Chain

ORCID

0000-0002-0628-330X

person.page.observainves

751445

person.page.upna

811484

Name

Filters

2022 - 20243
Reset filters

Settings

Search Results

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
  • Thumbnail Image
    PublicationEmbargo
    Hacia un manejo sostenible del recurso agua-suelo: evaluación de sensores de potencial hídrico y de una innovadora gestión del suelo y cultivo en Navarra
    (2024) Aldaz Lusarreta, Alaitz; Giménez Díaz, Rafael; Virto Quecedo, Íñigo; Campo-Bescós, Miguel; Ingeniería; Ingeniaritza; Universidad Pública de Navarra / Nafarroako Unibertsitate Publikoa; Gobierno de Navarra / Nafarroako Gobernua
    La degradación de suelos agrícolas es un problema global agravado por el aumento de la población y la necesidad de una mayor producción de alimentos. La tasa de erosión causada por la actividad humana supera la capacidad natural de regeneración del suelo. Por otro lado, la agricultura de regadío, que requiere grandes cantidades de agua, contribuye a la escasez de este recurso valioso y puede tener impactos ambientales negativos, como contaminación de aguas subterráneas y erosión del suelo. Frente a esta situación, donde la demanda de alimentos va en aumento y los recursos naturales se vuelven progresivamente escasos, resulta esencial impulsar el desarrollo de sistemas agrícolas sostenibles. La agricultura sostenible se define como un enfoque holístico que busca maximizar la productividad agrícola sin comprometer la salud del suelo, la calidad del agua y la biodiversidad. Dos de los pilares fundamentales de la actividad agrícola son, precisamente, los recursos agua y suelo. En la búsqueda de mantener ambos recursos como bases sostenibles en el tiempo, se hace evidente la necesidad de evaluar y adoptar nuevas técnicas (por ejemplo, distintos tipos de sensores) que se alineen con los principios de la sostenibilidad. Esta tesis se presenta como un aporte al manejo sostenible del suelo y del agua. Concretamente los objetivos son: i) contribuir a una óptima gestión del agua del suelo disponible para los cultivos en ambientes mediterráneos, y ii) contribuir a mitigar el impacto en el ecosistema de la actividad agrícola en ambientes mediterráneos, a través de sistemas agrícolas alternativos más sostenibles que los actuales. Para tal fin, se evaluó en laboratorio la actual y diversa tecnología disponible, a nivel mundial y con fines agrícolas, para la estimación y monitoreo de sensores de potencial hídrico. Por otra parte, tras casi dos décadas de implementación, se evaluó un sistema pionero y único en Navarra para la gestión optimizada del suelo y cultivo, centrándose en su impacto en la calidad física y biológica del suelo. La calidad física se examinó mediante el análisis de las curvas de retención de humedad del suelo (CRHS), y la evaluación del tamaño y la estabilidad de los macroagregados del suelo. Por otro lado, la calidad biológica se analizó a través de la fracción orgánica del suelo y sus poblaciones microbianas. Las CRHS se obtuvieron a partir de muestras inalteradas y mediante mediciones continuas de alta resolución, permitiendo una estimación detallada de la estructura del sistema poroso del suelo. Los resultados experimentales fueron analizados y extrapolados mediante el uso del modelo hidrológico Hydrus-2D.
  • Thumbnail Image
    PublicationOpen Access
    Toward optimal irrigation management at the plot level: evaluation of commercial water potential sensors
    (MDPI, 2023) Campo-Bescós, Miguel; Virto Quecedo, Íñigo; Giménez Díaz, Rafael; Aldaz Lusarreta, Alaitz; Ciencias; Zientziak; Ingeniería; Ingeniaritza; Institute on Innovation and Sustainable Development in Food Chain - ISFOOD
    Proper irrigation practice consists of applying the optimum amount of water to the soil at the right time. The porous characteristics of the soil determine the capacity of the soil to absorb, infiltrate, and store water. In irrigation, it is not sufficient to only determine the water content of the soil; it is also necessary to determine the availability of water for plants: water potential. In this paper, a comprehensive laboratory evaluation—accuracy and variability—of the world’s leading commercial water potential sensors is carried out. No such comprehensive and exhaustive comparative evaluation of these devices has been carried out to date. Ten pairs of representative commercial sensors from four different families were selected according to their principle of operation (tensiometers, capacitive sensors, heat dissipation sensors, and resistance blocks). The accuracy of the readings (0 kPa–200 kPa) was determined in two soils of contrasting textures. The variability in the recordings—repeatability and reproducibility—was carried out in a homogeneous and inert material (sand) in the same suction range. The response in terms of accuracy and value dispersion of the different sensor families was different according to the suction range considered. In the suction range of agronomic interest (0–100 kPa), the heat dissipation sensor and the capacitive sensors were the most accurate. In both families, registrations could be extended up to 150–200 kPa. The scatter in the readings across the different sensors was due to approximately 80% of the repeatability or intrinsic variability in the sensor unit and 20% of the reproducibility. Some sensors would significantly improve their performance with ad hoc calibrations.
  • Thumbnail Image
    PublicationOpen Access
    Effects of innovative long-term soil and crop management on topsoil properties of a mediterranean soil based on detailed water retention curves
    (European Geosciences Union, 2022) Aldaz Lusarreta, Alaitz; Giménez Díaz, Rafael; Campo-Bescós, Miguel; Arregui Odériz, Luis Miguel; Virto Quecedo, Íñigo; Agronomía, Biotecnología y Alimentación; Agronomia, Bioteknologia eta Elikadura; Ciencias; Zientziak; Ingeniería; Ingeniaritza; Institute on Innovation and Sustainable Development in Food Chain - ISFOOD; Gobierno de Navarra / Nafarroako Gobernua
    The effectiveness of conservation agriculture (CA) and other soil management strategies implying a reduction of tillage has been shown to be site-dependent (crop, clime and soil), and thus any new soil and crop management should be rigorously evaluated before its implementation. Moreover, farmers are normally reluctant to abandon conventional practices if this means putting their production at risk. This study evaluates an innovative soil and crop management (including no-tillage, cover crops and organic amendments) as an alternative to conventional management for rainfed cereal cropping in a calcareous soil in a semi-arid Mediterranean climatic zone of Navarra (Spain), based on the analysis of soil water retention curves (SWRCs) and soil structure. The study was carried out in a small agricultural area in the municipality of Garínoain (Navarre, Spain) devoted to rainfed cereal cropping. No other agricultural area in the whole region of Navarre exists where soil and crop management as proposed herein is practiced. Climate is temperate Mediterranean, and the dominant soil is Fluventic Haploxerept. Within the study area there is a subarea devoted to the proposed soil and crop management (OPM treatment), while there is another subarea where the soil and crop management is conventional in the zone (CM treatment). OPM includes no-tillage (18 years continuous) after conventional tillage, crop rotation, use of cover crops and occasional application of organic amendments. CM involves continuous conventional tillage (chisel plow), mineral fertilization, no cover crops and a lower diversity of crops in the rotation. Undisturbed soil samples from the topsoil and disturbed samples from the tilled layer were collected for both systems. The undisturbed samples were used to obtain the detailed SWRCs in the low suction range using a HYPROP©device. From the SWRCs, different approaches found in the literature to evaluate soil physical quality were calculated. The pore-size distribution was also estimated from the SWRCs. Disturbed samples were used in the laboratory to assess soil structure by means of an aggregate-size fractionation and to perform complementary analysis from which other indicators related to soil functioning and agricultural sustainability were obtained. The approaches evaluated did not show clear differences between treatments. However, the differences in soil quality between the two forms of management were better observed in the pore size distributions and by the analysis of the size distribution and stability of soil aggregates. There was an overabundance of macropores under CM, while the amount of mesopores (available water) and micropores were similar in both treatments. Likewise, more stable macroaggregates were observed in OPM than in CM, as well as more organic C storage, greater microbial activity, and biomass. The proposed management system is providing good results regarding soil physical quality and contributing also to the enhancement of biodiversity, as well as to the improvement in water-use efficiency. Finally, our findings suggest that the adoption of the proposed practice would not result in a loss in yields compared to conventional management.