Water quality classification systems aim to assess the overall risk of clogging in micro-irrigation systems. However, their ability to predict potential clogging based on water quality characteristics remains untested, particularly in controlled environment agriculture. This project aimed to evaluate if the existing classification systems could be used to identify the cause of clogging in micro-irrigation systems in greenhouses. Water from eight commercial greenhouses with reported clogging was analyzed for physical, chemical, and biological properties to rate the risk of clogging according to the classification systems. In general, iron and manganese from the fertilizers and high microbial load resulted in high ratings. However, the ratings lacked insight into the specific causes of clogging, disregarding interactions among chemical and microbial factors and qualitative characteristics of specific microbial phenotypes (e.g., production of polysaccharides or iron oxidation) that lead to clogging. Furthermore, the systems overemphasize nutrient levels typically used in greenhouse fertigation as the cause of clogging – which is not commonly observed in practice. Enhancing these systems requires parameters reflecting these interactions and microbial traits influencing clogging. Further research needs to develop these parameters in new systems with robust and precise thresholds in which emitter performance, profitability, and sustainability are affected.

The objective of this work was to evaluate the effect of three dehydration/rehydration cycles on the vegetative growth and shoot dry matter of citrus seedlings, as well as seedling acclimatization to this environmental stress. The five following water regimes were evaluated: WR1 (control), WR2, and WR3, with plants kept at 100, 75, and 50% of pot capacity during the three cycles, respectively; and WR4 and WR5, with plants kept at 75, 100, and 75% and 50, 100, and 50% of pot capacity during the first, second, and third cycles, respectively. Relative water content, plant height, length and diameter of the main and secondary branches, angle of leaf insertion in the branch, specific leaf area, leaf chlorophyll content, and dry matter were evaluated. Rehydration after a cycle with 50% of pot capacity did not improve plant growth or dry matter accumulation in relation to the well-hydrated plants of the control. However, after a cycle with 75% of pot capacity, rehydration restores water content, the diameter of the secondary branches, and the angle of leaf insertion. The exposure to successive events of dehydration/rehydration makes the citrus seedlings more resistant to future exposures to water stress.

Rainfall exclusion experiments allow us assessing the effects of environmental stresses such as long-term water limitations on both leaf and canopy structural traits. This work aimed to evaluate how leaf anatomical traits and canopy development of productive coffee trees change when submitted to more dry conditions in the southern region of Minas Gerais - Brazil. The experimental plots have been set up in a plantation area in which is growing Coffea arabica L. cv. Mundo Novo- IAC 379-19, in a completely randomized arrangement, composed by three treatments: Control (C) - no gutter system; Control plus roof (Ĉ) and Exclusion system (E). Leaf anatomical and canopy traits were determined within a year at the end of each season: late Spring- 2015 (Sp), and late Summer (Su), late Autumn (Au) and late Winter (Wi) - 2016. During the studied period the rainfall exclusion condition led to a reduction in the relative water content (RWC) of leaves. In the leaf-level, as the dry condition increase, the leaves invested in thicker cuticles, reduced xylem and phloem areas and smaller stomata, especially with the rainfall exclusion. In the canopy-level, there was a remarkable reduction in leaf area index (LAI) especially in the winter as a strategy of reduction of transpiratory area, when the availability of water decreased around 25%. In a context of reduced water availability due to effects of climate change, coffee trees may be able to present modifications at both levels, to cope with the effects of this abiotic stress. Key words: Adaptation strategies; Coffea arabica L.; Ecophysiology; Leaf anatomy; Seasonal patterns.