 Prof. Dr. JAITI FATIMA (Faculty of Sciences and Techniques, University Moulay Ismail):

Water scarcity and climate change conditions affect agricultural production worldwide, mostly in arid regions. Here, the salinization of water resources poses an imminent threat to all sectors. In order to provide an innovative and robust solution for groundwater salinization, an all-in-one smart irrigation cube was developed within the research Project SmaCuMed (www.smacumed.de) in the field of sustainable irrigation. The aim of the project is to optimize irrigation aiming at long-term strategies to prevent and control soil/water salinization and foster sustainable agriculture bridging the gap between water balances. The smart box was developed together with six Mediterranean and European partners to target the specific conditions of the region (Hochschule Karlsruhe – Technik und Wirtschaft (HsKA), Moulay Ismail University (MIU), Errachidia-Morocco; Cadi Ayyad University (UCA), Marrakech-Morocco; Centre de Recherches et des Technologies des Eaux (CERTE)-Tunisia; Aquagri (AQG)-Portugal; Raach Solar (RAC)-Germany).

As a project partner (UMI), our work involves conducting meticulous testing of this technology on date palm plants (cv. Mejhoul) in the desertic conditions of our designated pilot site (Erfoud). We have utilized both desalination technologies to irrigate three distinct fields: the Red field (2 g.l-1), the Blue field (3.5 g.l-1), and the Yellow field (Control: irrigated with well water containing a salt concentration of 5 g.l-1). Throughout the experiment, we have diligently monitored the plant responses to these different water regimes, investigating various aspects to evaluate the effectiveness of the desalination technologies.