Sustainability of the Legal Endowments of Water in Almond Trees and a New Generation of High Quality Hydrosustainable Almonds

Abstract

The great consumption of water and its scarcity in many areas of the world leads „irremediably” to accept that Spanish agriculture, like other Mediterranean agricultures, must adapt to the lack of this natural resource. Deficit irrigation (DI) strategies are routine practices used worldwide in order to increase net farm income by growing the crops effectiveness to use water. The importance of using this type of strategies is the fact that farmers have the opportunity not just to reduce the water consumption but also to obtain hydro sustainable products. Those are “theoretically” characterized by a high accumulation of secondary carbon metabolites in plant and a great accumulation of bioactive compounds in fruit, according to other studies already done in pistachio or table olives. As almond is the major nut crop in Mediterranean area different DI strategies are presented within this review together with their effect on the final product quality. Thus, the aim of the current review paper is to find all the necessary information about which DI strategies are the recommended to be applied in the almond crop in order to obtain high-quality fruits environmentally friendly. In addition, methods used to determine de quality and steps necessary to certify and protect this type of products are also presented.