JAVIER JOSE
CANCELA BARRIO

The study of water management has been the main line of research since the beginning of his career in 2000, directly related to his PhD thesis defended in 2004: Integrated Water Management in the upper Miño River basin. From then, continuity was given to the line of research on irrigation management and determination of crop water requirements, for which several post-doctoral stays were carried out at the Higher Institute of Agronomy in Lisbon, in collaboration with Prof. Luis S. Pereira, co-author of the FAO monograph on the calculation of crop water requirements. During this stage, he published his first works related to irrigation management and water needs in the cultivation of forage maize and silage grasslands. In 2006, a new line of work about studying vineyards in Galicia began, which continues until today, in which several works in relation to irrigation management, nutrition, fertigation and precision viticulture have been published for the main Galician varieties. Several national and regional competitive projects have been obtained, as well as several contracts with relevant companies within the Galician Viticulture Sector. In 2011, a new line of work about hop yards began, prompting the publication of the first article on irrigation management and its influence on the ‘Nugget’ variety, the main one in Spain, applied to its cultivation in Galicia, which has meant an advance in the management of irrigation for Galician producers. More recently, in 2015, we begun studies on the management of irrigation for crops recently introduced in Galicia, such as avocado, as well as for local apple varieties. In global terms, the main objectives of the research line are focused on improving the management of irrigation systems in Galicia, with little tradition on their use, together with the application of nutrients through irrigation water. The lack of water in summer has generated the need to address the study of the effects of water and nutrients on crops produced in Galicia. Saving water, energy and nutrients, is one of the aims of this line of work, maximizing crop production and quality. In the case of hop cultivation, the justification for its study is centred on the economic importance that the sector had in Galicia, with half the cultivated surface in Spain in 1963, and which demonstrates the productive potential for this crop in the region. Hop water needs are high in June, July and August, so it is essential to study the most appropriate practices, combining these with the management of nutrients, the climatic characteristics of the current year, as well as the aspects related to the presence / incidence of pests and diseases.