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Estimation of Crop Water Requirement for Sugarcane in Coimbatore District

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Article in Madras Agricultural Journal · June 2021

DOI: 10.29321/MAJ.10.000494

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Madras Agric. J., 2021; doi:10.29321/MAJ.10.000494(online first)

RESEARCH ARTICLE
Estimation of Crop Water Requirement for Sugarcane in
Coimbatore District using FAO CROPWAT
Aravind P1, Ponnuchakkammal P1, Thiyagarajan G2* and Balaji Kannan2
1
Department of Soil and Water Conservation Engineering, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore-3
2
Water Technology Centre, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore-3

ABSTRACT

The present study aimed to evaluate the software CROPWAT 8.0 that is
used for estimation of the crop water requirement forsugarcane. With these
approach the net irrigation requirement of sugarcane is calculated and the
monthly water requirement is calibrated to meet out the requirement. It
includes a simple water balance model that allows the simulation of crop
water stress conditions and estimation of yield reductions based on well-
established methodologies. The use of modern irrigation techniques will go
a long way in reducing water use and conservation. This will put wider areas
under cultivation and potentially contribute to greater agricultural production.
The results showed that the Net and Gross Irrigationare 1394 and 1991.5
mm, repectively. The crop water requirement of sugarcane in Coimbatore
was estimated to be 1438.7 mm.

Keywords: CROPWAT, Crop water requirement, Irrigation Scheduling,Irrigation water requirement.

INTRODUCTION crop diseases, increased demand for irrigation

water which may lead to the scarcity of agricultural
Water the most essential and basic need of
products. one of the effective ways is to increase
anything and everything of humans. Urbanization
the crop production rate and to precisely using the
and Globalization are leading the world to the
available water to increase the yield to meet out the
scarce of water resources.To overcome the scarcity
future requirements. Many studies indicate the rise
of water for agriculture, planning of the crop and its
in the demand for irrigation water in global and local
management is necessary. Crop water requirement
level, which may significantly affect the agricultural
was estimated using CROPWAT 8.0 software
scenario very soon.
based on the crop and the spatial weather data.
Sugarcane is one of the annual crops, which requires In an environment in which the rapid climate
water throughout the year.By proper planning and change is happening and its environmental effects
assessment of irrigation crop water requirements like monsoon failure, melting of glaciers, and high-
tend to increase the yield and to effectively utilize intensity short duration rainfalls, which may lead to
the available water, thereby we can manage the droughts and floods and will directly affect the human
scarcity of water. society as well as the farming society. Prediction of
the crop water requirement is vital in water resources
Serious water deficiencies are creating in
management and in planning the crop and its yield.
numerous nations, especially in India and water for
Crop water requirements are normally expressed
farming is turning out to be progressively rare, in the
by the rate of evapotranspiration (ET) in mm day-1.
light of developing water requests from various parts
One of the significant practices embraced by the
(IWMI 2010). Agriculture is the biggest consumer of
scientists for water requirements is modeling. To
water in India and hence more efficient use of water
Model the Crop water requirement, many field level
in agriculture needs to be given more importance by
data must be validated and correlated to be fed into
adopting new technologies (Thiyagarajan et al., 2011
CROPWAT Software. For determination of crop water
and Surendran et al., 2013). Due to the change in
requirement, crop evapotranspiration and yield
the climate and urbanization, there is a huge need
responses to water, CROPWAT 8.0 model is used,
for water for the survival and agricultural production.
which was developed by the FAO Land and Water
As we are now facing the shortage of water for
Development Division (FAO, 1992).
agriculture, effective water utilization is the only way
to overcome the scarcity of water for agriculture. To Using the crop water requirement obtained from
meet the future population, urbanization and various the CROPWAT, the farmers and researchers may be

*Corresponding author’s e-mail: thiyagu@tnau.ac.in 108 | 1-3 | 1

able to predict the seasonal and crop water needs crops cultivated are Millets, Pulses, Oilseeds, Cotton
and can plan for the crop and may be able to reduce and Sugarcane. Sugarcane was sown in area of 927
the losses and increase the yield. ha and the production is about 121181 tonnes.
At least 850 mm of water per year is required for
MATERIAL AND METHODS sustainable rainfed production of sugarcane.High-
Study Location yielding crops like sugarcane produce heavy biomass
and economic yield. Higher biomass needs more
Coimbatore District in the state of Tamil Nadu
water for its production. Hence supplementation
and lies in the GPS coordinates of 11° 0’ 16’’ N
of water as irrigation is essential. For commercial
and 76° 57’ 41’’ E at a mean sea level of 411m.
production, full irrigation was practiced when annual
The district has an area of 4723 km2. The average
rainfall is less than 800 mm and supplemental
rainfall of this area is about 618 mm.The third-
irrigation is applied when annual rainfall is less
largest city of the state, Coimbatore, is one of the
than 1000 mm.
most industrialized cities in India. It is known as the
the Manchester of the South, the city is situated on
the banks of the river Noyyal. The city has a well-
planned tank irrigation system that stores the Noyyal
River water during the monsoon and was utilized for
the Summer season, which is one of the important
reasons for the boom of Agriculture in Coimbatore.
The Location area map is presented in Figure 1.

Figure 2. Monthly distribution of reference

evapotranspiration
The Sustainable Sugarcane Initiative (SSI)
aims at providing practical options to the farmers
in improving the productivity of land, water and
labor, all at the same time. SSI is also expected
to reduce the overall pressure on water resources
and contribute to the recovery of ecosystems.
Sustainable Sugarcane Initiative is an innovative
method of sugarcane production using less seeds,
less water and optimum utilization of fertilizers and
land to achieve more yields (agritech.tnau.ac.in).
CROPWAT 8.0 MODEL
Figure 1. Study Area Map CROPWAT 8.0 is a decision support tool developed
Meteorological data by the Land and Water Development Division of FAO.
CROPWAT for Windows is a computer program for
The district lies in the rain shadow region of the the calculation of crop water requirements and
Western Ghats and experiences pleasant climate irrigation requirements based on soil, climate
most parts of the year. The mean maximum and and crop data. CROPWAT 8.0 can also be used
minimum temperatures for Coimbatore city during to evaluate farmers’ irrigation practices and to
summer and winter vary between 35°C to 18°C. estimate crop performance under both rainfed and
Long-term weather data was collected from IMD, irrigated conditions. In addition, the program allows
Chennai for Coimbatore District. The essential
parameters include: Maximum and Minimum
Temperature, Relative Humidity, Wind speed and
sunshine Hours. Nearly 80% of rainfall in India is
received during the monsoon period. Monsoon
rainfall is very uncertain. So, irrigation is very
important to supply water to plants also and when
needed. To compensate the uneven distribution in
an area, supplemental irrigation is needed.
Crop data
Coconut is the major plantation crop cultivated
in an area of about 85831Ha. The other Agricultural Figure 3. Comparison of ET values obtained from
Penman method and Cropwat software
107 | 10-12 | 2
the development of irrigation schedules for different and the soil covers fully,  transpiration is the key
management conditions and the calculation of method.
scheme water supply for varying crop patterns. The
Penman-monteith method
development of irrigation schedules in CROPWAT 8.0
is based on a daily soil-water balance using various T h e FA O - P e n m a n - M o n t i e t h e q u a t i o n
user-defined options for water supply and irrigation is recommended as the standard method for
management conditions. Scheme water supply is estimating reference evapotranspiration.In 1948,
calculated according to the cropping pattern defined Penman combined the energy balance with the
by the user, which can include up to 20 crops(Smith, mass transfer method and derived an equation
1992). Thiyagarajan and Ranghaswami(2010) used to compute the evaporation from an open water
the FAO CROPWAT software for irrigation scheduling surface from standard climatological records of
and croop planning. sunshine, temperature, humidity and wind speed.
One can interpret the equation as the peak water
that could be evapotranspired at the given air and
surface characteristics due to the solar and wind
energy in the system(Allen et al., 1998).
The Penman-Monteith form of the combination
equation is
0.408∆(Rn-G)+γ (900/T+273)u2(es-ea)
ETo =
∆+γ(1+0.34u2)
Where,
ETo is reference evapotranspiration (mm day-1),
Figure 4.Effective Rainfall Rn is net radiation at the crop surface (MJ m-2 day-
Reference Evapotranspiration
1
),G is soil heat flux density (MJ m-2 day-1),T is air
temperature at 2 m height (°C),u2 is wind speed at
In CROPWAT, the reference evapotranspiration 2 m height (m s-1), es is saturation vapour pressure
can be fed directly through the meteorological (kPa), ea is actual vapour pressure (kPa), es - ea is
data or that which can be estimated by providing saturation vapourpressure deficit (kPa), Δ is slope
the monthly climate data by using the Penman- vapour pressure curve (kPa °C-1),Υ is psychometric
Monteith equation. The concept of the reference constant (kPa °C-1).
evapotranspiration was introduced to study
the evaporative demand of the atmosphere
independently of crop type, crop development and
management practices (Allen et al., 1998).

Figure 6. Crop Water Requirement obtained from

FAO CROPWAT

Figure 5. Net irrigation and gross irrigation Effective rainfall

obtained from FAO CROPWAT The rainfall contributes to a greater or lesser
Evaporation and transpiration happen at extent in supporting Crop Water Requirement,
the same time and there is no simple method depending on the study area and time of rainfall.
of recognizing the two forms. When the crop During the rainy season in arid and semi-arid
is small, the predominantly water Loss by soil regions, a great part of the crop’s water needs is
evaporation, but once the crop grows well covered by rainfall, while during the dry season, the

107 | 10-12 | 3
major supply ofwater should come from irrigation. evapotranspiration (ETp) occurs.For calculation of
Effective rainfall is equal to the difference between crop evapotranspiration FAO CROPWAT 8.0 model
total rainfall and actual evapotranspiration.The uses crop coefficient approach and the crop water
effective rainfall is the rainfall eventually used to requirements of various crops were calculated
determine the net irrigation requirements. Effective by summing up the crop evapotranspiration at all
rainfall can be calculated directly from the climatic stages of crop development.
parameter and usable water resources.
The crop type, variety and development
It is the part of rainfall, which is stored in the soil stage should be considered when assessing the
profile and helps in the growing of crops. To calculate evapotranspiration from crops grown in large,
the effective rainfall the USDA Soil Conservation well-managed fields. Differences in resistance to
Service method was used (Smith, 1991). Where Peff transpiration, crop height, crop roughness, reflection,
represents effective rainfall (mm) and Ptotrepresents ground cover and crop rooting characteristics result
total rainfall (mm). in different ET levels in different types of crops
Effective Rainfall is estimated by the USDA formula under identical environmental conditions (Allen et
(i) and (ii) al., 1998).
Ptot ×(125-0.6Ptot) ET crop = Kc × ETo
Peff= ,forPtot<=(250/3) mm (i)
125
Where,
125 ETC – Crop Evapotranspiration
Peff= +0.1X Ptot, forPtot<=(250/3) mm (ii)
3
Kc – Crop Coefficient
Where,
ETo- Reference Evapotranspiration
Peff= Effective Rainfall (mm)
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Ptot = Total Rainfall (mm)
Reference Evapotranspiration (ETo)
Crop evapotranspiration
The Penman–Monteith equation for calculating
Crop characteristics, ground cover and average reference evapotranspiration assumes
development stage, soil water availability and evapotranspiration from a hypothetical crop with a
meteorological criteria, or evaporative requirement, height of 0.12 m, a surface resistance of 70 s m-1,
are the key determinants of evapotranspiration and an albedo of 0.23, which closely resembles the
levels. When soil water is not a constraint evaporation of an extension surface of grass cover of
and the crop is in an active growth stage with uniform height, steadily developing, and adequately
complete ground cover, maximum or possible watered. (Allen et al 1998).

Table 1. Reference Evapotranspiration along with meteorological parameters

Min Temp Max Temp Humidity Wind Sun Rad ETo
Month
(°C) (°C) (%) (km/day) (Hours) (MJ/m²/day) (mm/day)
January 19.2 29.7 57 156 9.7 21.3 4.67

February 20.2 32.2 49 156 10.1 23.3 5.47

March 22.1 34.7 46 170 10.9 25.9 6.5

April 23.4 34.6 58 168 10.1 25.1 6.25

May 23.6 33.5 65 254 10.1 24.7 6.38

June 22.5 30.5 69 391 7.3 20.1 5.64

July 22 29 72 391 5.8 17.9 4.91

August 22.1 29.9 71 357 8.1 21.7 5.48

September 22 30.7 69 314 9.3 23.4 5.74

October 22 30.4 72 187 7.9 20.3 4.66

November 21.1 29.3 70 129 8 19.1 4.1

December 19.6 28.9 63 146 9.5 20.4 4.31

Average 21.6 31.1 63 235 8.9 21.9 5.34

107 | 10-12 | 4
 The exact simulation of crop reference CROPWAT 8.0 model using Penman-Monteith
evapotranspiration (ETo) in semi-arid regions is equation, for the Coimbatore district along with
essential for better irrigation management and the meteorological parameters is presented in
irrigation scheduling of crops.The simulated values Table 1 and monthly distribution of reference
of reference evapotranspiration (ETo) through evapotranspiration is shown in Figure 2.

Table 2. Crop Water Requirement of Sugarcane in Coimbatore District

Etc Etc Eff rain Irr. Req.
Month Decade Stage Kc
(mm/day) (mm/dec) (mm/dec) (mm/dec)
Jul 1 Init 0.40 2.04 20.4 13.5 6.9
Jul 2 Init 0.40 1.93 19.3 14.7 4.6
Jul 3 Deve 0.40 2.02 22.2 12.7 9.6
Aug 1 Deve 0.49 2.58 25.8 9.1 16.7
Aug 2 Deve 0.62 3.40 34.0 6.9 27.2
Aug 3 Deve 0.76 4.24 46.6 10.0 36.7
Sep 1 Deve 0.90 5.16 51.6 12.3 39.3
Sep 2 Deve 1.04 6.05 60.5 14.1 46.4
Sep 3 Mid 1.16 6.35 63.5 22.2 41.3
Oct 1 Mid 1.20 6.04 60.4 33.3 27.1
Oct 2 Mid 1.20 5.60 56.0 41.8 14.2
Oct 3 Mid 1.20 5.38 59.1 39.8 19.4
Nov 1 Mid 1.20 5.15 51.5 38.2 13.3
Nov 2 Mid 1.20 4.93 49.3 38.2 11.1
Nov 3 Mid 1.20 5.01 50.1 30.5 19.7
Dec 1 Mid 1.20 5.10 51.0 21.2 29.8
Dec 2 Mid 1.20 5.19 51.9 14.0 37.9
Dec 3 Mid 1.20 5.33 58.6 10.0 48.6
Jan 1 Mid 1.20 5.47 54.7 5.1 49.6
Jan 2 Mid 1.20 5.61 56.1 0.1 56.0
Jan 3 Mid 1.20 5.93 65.3 0.9 64.4
Feb 1 Mid 1.20 6.25 62.5 2.1 60.4
Feb 2 Mid 1.20 6.58 65.8 2.2 63.6
Feb 3 Mid 1.20 6.99 55.9 2.7 53.2
Mar 1 Mid 1.20 7.48 74.8 2.7 72.1
Mar 2 Mid 1.20 7.93 79.3 2.9 76.4
Mar 3 Late 1.20 7.77 85.4 5.3 80.1
Apr 1 Late 1.16 7.33 73.3 7.7 65.5
Apr 2 Late 1.11 6.93 69.3 9.8 59.5
Apr 3 Late 1.06 6.68 66.8 13.0 53.8
May 1 Late 1.01 6.42 64.2 18.0 46.2
May 2 Late 0.96 6.16 61.6 21.9 39.6
May 3 Late 0.91 5.61 61.7 18.3 43.4
Jun 1 Late 0.86 5.09 50.9 12.8 38.1
Jun 2 Late 0.82 4.60 46.0 9.5 36.6
Jun 3 Late 0.77 4.15 41.5 10.9 30.6
TOTAL 1966.7 528.1 1438.7

107 | 10-12 | 5
 The ET values were obtained from both the software can be used for the estimation of Crop
Penman-Monteith method and also obtained from water Requirements in field level and those results
the CROPWAT software and are closely related to are to be accurate as such of the results of the
each other and from this, we can able to validate Penman-Monteith method. The comparison of both
that the ET values obtained from the CROPWAT the methods is graphically plotted in Figure 3.

Table 3. Estimated Crop Water Requirement of Sugarcane in Coimbatore District

Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec TOTAL

Sugarcane 170 177.6 229 182.5 133 108.5 22.7 71.6 122 60.5 45.1 116.2 1438.7

From the result, it is revealed that the maximum in December (4.10 mm/day) due to the lower
ET 0 was found in May month (6.38 mm/day), temperature.The reference evapotranspiration is the
which was mainly due to high temperature and feature of temperature and is affected by Relative
more sunshine hours, whereas it was minimum Humidity (RH).
Table 4. Net Irrigation Scheme
Net scheme
Jan Feb March April May June July Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec
irr.req.

in mm/day 1.6 1.9 2.2 1.8 1.3 1.1 0.2 0.7 1.2 0.6 0.4 1.1

in mm/month 51 53.2 68.7 54.7 39.9 32.6 6.8 21.5 35.4 18.2 13.2 34.9

in l/s/h 0.19 0.22 0.26 0.21 0.15 0.13 0.03 0.08 0.14 0.07 0.05 0.13

Effective rainfall of rainfall are incurred as loses and the remaining

amount of rainfall will be applicable for the efficient
The effective rainfall was calculated for the
use of the crop for its growth and cultivation and
study area with the help of USDA SCS method,
hence effective rainfall is considered for the Crop
which is presented in Figure 4. This will help for
water requirement estimation and all water balance-
the estimation of irrigation water requirement of
related studies. In general, the efficiency of rainfall
Sugarcane crops for the same area. Not all the
decreases with the increasing rainfall.
rainfall obtained is used by the plants,some parts

Table 5. Net Irrigation Scheme Required for Actual Area

Net scheme irr.
Jan Feb March April May June July Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec
req.
Irrigated area
30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30
(% of total area)
Irr. req. for
actual area 0.63 0.73 0.85 0.7 0.5 0.42 0.08 0.27 0.46 0.23 0.17 0.43
(l/s/h)

It was found from the study that the total average refers to the amount of water that needs to be
effective rainfall is 527.7 mm which is 85.3 percent supplied, while crop evapotranspiration refers
of the average annual rainfall 618 mm. The average to the amount of water that is lost through
effective rainfall was maximum in October (115 mm) evapotranspiration(Allen et al., 1998).This may differ
followed by November (107 mm) and the lowest due to the local weather parameters and the type
Effective Rainfall was recorded in January (5.9 mm). of crop cultivated in that area. The irrigation water
Crop water requirement requirement represents the difference between the
crop water requirement and effective rainfall.
The amount of water required to compensate
for the evapotranspiration loss from the cropped As per the Net irrigation and the Gross Irrigation
field is defined as crop water requirement. While the obtained from the data are 1394 and 1991.5 mm
values for crop evapotranspiration and crop water respectively which are presented in the Table 2 and
requirement are similar, crop water requirement Figure 5. The Crop Water requirement of sugarcane

107 | 10-12 | 6
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