This specially curated collection features five reviews of current and key research on improving water management in crop cultivation. The first chapter focuses on site-specific variable rate irrigation systems utilised across agriculture and examines site-specific data acquisition and mining approaches, such as soil mapping and zone delineation. The second chapter considers the main deficit irrigation strategies used in agriculture to improve crop water productivity. It also explores the status of site-specific irrigation management and its role in minimizing agricultural water use. The third chapter reviews progress in winter wheat water management and water-use efficiency (WUE), drawing on long-term field experiments in the U.S. southern Great Plains. It discusses the key relationships between yield, evapotranspiration, WUE and best management practices. The fourth chapter considers the key techniques for improving rice water productivity through enhanced irrigation practices aiming to reduce irrigation water use in rice cultivation, such as the Alternate Wetting and Drying technique. The final chapter examines the main irrigation methods used in dryland sorghum production. It also reviews the relationship between soil properties and irrigation management.

Rice is one of the most important foods in the world. As the demand for rice continues to increase, there is an urgent need to increase yields in the face of such challenges as climate change, threats from pests and diseases and the need to make cultivation more resource-efficient and sustainable. Drawing on an international range of expertise, this collection focuses on ways of improving the cultivation of rice at each step in the value chain, from breeding to post-harvest storage. Volume 2 reviews research in improving cultivation in such areas as irrigation and nutrition as well as developments in disease and pest management. Achieving sustainable cultivation of rice Volume 2: Cultivation, pest and disease management will be a standard reference for rice scientists in universities, government and other research centres and companies involved in rice cultivation. It is accompanied by Volume 1 which reviews research in breeding, nutritional and other aspects of rice quality.