Resende, Flávia C.Silva, Manuela Fernanda Gomes Moreira daAnibal, JaimeMartins, AntónioDuarte, Amilcar2025-11-172025-11-172025978-989-8152-28-2http://hdl.handle.net/10400.1/27890Anthropogenic factors and climate change are putting increasing pressure on natural water resources, threatening habitats and biodiversity (Libutti et al.2018, Rebelo et al., 2020). Worldwide, agriculture uses around 70% of the total water used in human activities. In addition, the demand for food and animal feed production tends to increase with the growth of the world population (Parris, 2010; Becerra-Castro et al., 2015; Chartzoulakis & Bertaki, 2015; Karandish & Šimunek, 2016). Meanwhile, freshwater use has exceeded recharge levels, leading to the desiccation of water streams, and the groundwater over-extraction has promoted saline intrusion phenomena in several coastal areas, posing additional constraints to agricultural irrigation, decreasing production and lowering crop yields (Jenkins & Sugden, 2006). To face this scenario, agriculture sustainability in more vulnerable regions, such as the south of Portugal, where water scarcity is a common reality, involves the choice of an alternative water supply and more efficient irrigation systems (Fatta-Kassinos et al., 2011; Jiang et al., 2016), as well as crop selection.engbook part