Principais estratégias de manejo da irrigação

• Palavras-chave: eficiência hídrica; estresse hídrico; evapotranspiração.

• Keywords: water efficiency; water stress; evapotranspiration.

• Abstract: The adoption of proper irrigation management practices helps reduce climatic risks, optimize water replenishment, avoid waste, and ensure favorable conditions for plant growth throughout the entire production cycle. Determining when to irrigate and how much water to apply depends on the integration of factors such as atmospheric demand, soil characteristics, crop requirements, and the capacity of the irrigation system. Tools such as evapotranspiration, tensiometry, moisture sensors, water balance, and climate monitoring provide essential information for these decisions. Within each category, there are instruments that vary in precision, practicality, and cost. When based on soil, irrigation management focuses on monitoring the actual water content, whereas climate-based management seeks to calculate crop evapotranspiration. Methods based solely on plant indicators are less common in commercial agriculture due to their high technical requirements and costly equipment. Proper irrigation management reduces losses from evaporation and deep percolation, minimizes water stress, preserves productivity, and promotes environmental sustainability.