WATER

REQUIREMENTS:
HIGH DELTA VS LOW DELTA CROPS
By

DR. TAHIR SARWAR

Professor
Dept. of Water Management
NWFP Agricultural University
Peshawar
 Crop Water Requirement

• Delta: Total depth of water required by a crop

during the growing period is called Delta.

• Water requirement is the depth of water needed

to meet the water loss through evapotranspiration
(Doorenbos and Pruitt, 1977) .

• Units: mm/day, mm/month, mm/season

 Importance of Crop Water Requirement

• Necessary for planning and development

of water resources.
• Plays an important role in management
decisions.
• Accurate assessment of water needs of
crops allow efficient use of water
resources.
• Crop Substitution
 Basic Terminology
Evapotranspiration (ET)
• It is the combined loss of water in form of
evaporation from soil and plant surfaces plus
transpiration through plant tissues.

Potential Evapotranspiration (ETo)

• It is the evapotranspiration from alfalfa crop, 30-
50 cm in height (full grown), with unrestricted
availability of water (Jensen, 1974) .
Potential Evapotranspiration (ETo)
• It is the rate of evapotranspiration from an
extensive surface of 8-15 cm high green grass
cover of uniform height actively growing and
completely shading the ground and with no
shortage of water (Doorenbos & Pruitt,1977) .

• Potential Evapotranspiration is usually defined

for a reference crop (alfalfa or grass) and is
regarded as a function of climatic factors only.
Maximum Evapotranspiration (ETm)
• It refers to evapotranspiration of a given crop
other than the reference crops such as wheat,
cotton, sugarcane etc grown under non-
restricted soil and water conditions

Actual Evapotranspiration (ETa)

• It refers to the evapotranspiration of a given crop
other than the reference crops such as wheat,
cotton, sugarcane etc grown under water deficit
conditions
 CU vs ET
Consumptive Use (CU)
• Consumptive use includes both
evapotranspiration and the amount of water
used by the plants for building its tissues.

• The amount of water used by plant for their

development is less than 1% of the total ET,
therefore CU and ET are sometimes used
interchangeably.
Factors Affecting Crop Water Requirement

• Crop: Type of crop, rootzone depth,

growth stage, crop density

• Soil: soil texture, water holding capacity

and current soil moisture status

• Climatic factors: air temperature, solar

radiation, wind velocity, humidity etc.
 Effect of major climatic factors
on crop water need
Climatic Factor Crop water need

High Low

Sunshine sunny (no clouds) cloudy (no sun)

Temperature hot cool

Humidity low (dry) high (humid)

Wind speed windy little wind

Major Climatic Factor Influencing
Crop Water Need
 Average daily water need of
standard grass
Climatic Mean daily temperature
zone
low medium high
(less than (15- (more than
15°C) 25°C) 25°C)
Desert/arid 4-6 7-8 9-10

Semi arid 4-5 6-7 8-9

Sub-humid 3-4 5-6 7-8

Humid 1-2 3-4 5-6

CROP WATER NEEDS IN PEAK PERIOD AS COMPARED TO STANDARD GRASS

Column Column Column 3 Column 4 Column 5

1 2
-30% -10% same as standard grass + 10% +20%
citrus cucumb carrots barley paddy rice
er
olives radishes crucifers (cabbage, cauliflower, beans sugarcane
broccoli, etc.)
grapes squash lettuce maize banana
melons flax nuts & fruit trees with
cover crop
onions small
grains
peanuts cotton

peppers tomato

spinach eggplant

tea lentils

grass millet

cacao oats

coffee peas
 Indicative values of the total growing period
Crop Total growing period (days) Crop Total growing period (days)
Alfalfa 100-365 Millet 105-140
Banana 300-365 Onion green 70-95
Barley/Oats/Wheat 120-150 Onion dry 150-210
Bean green 75-90 Peanut/Groundnut 130-140
Bean dry 95-110 Pea 90-100

Cabbage 120-140 Pepper 120-210

Carrot 100-150 Potato 105-145
Citrus 240-365 Radish 35-45
Cotton 180-195 Rice 90-150
Cucumber 105-130 Sorghum 120-130
Eggplant 130-140 Soybean 135-150
Flax 150-220 Spinach 60-100
Grain/small 150-165. Squash 95-120
Lentil 150-170 Sugarbeet 160-230
Lettuce 75-140 Sugarcane 270-365
Maize sweet 80-110 Sunflower 125-130
Maize grain 125-180 Tobacco 130-160
Melon 120-160 Tomato 135-180
 Growth stages of a crop
The total growing period is divided into 4 growth stages:

Initial stage: this is the period from sowing or transplanting until the
crop covers about 10% of the ground.

Crop development stage: this period starts at the end of the initial
stage and lasts until the full ground cover has been reached; it does
not necessarily mean that the crop is at its maximum height.

Mid - season stage: this period starts at the end of the crop
development stage and lasts until maturity; it includes flowering and
grain-setting.

Late season stage: this period starts at the end of the mid season
stage and lasts until the last day of the harvest; it includes ripening.
Growth stages of a crop
Methods of Determining Crop
Water Requirements

– Direct Methods: Methods based on

field measurements and observations

– Indirect Methods: Methods using

climatic data (Empirical methods)
Definition Sketch of Water
Balance Equation
 Inflows, Outflows
Inflow = I + P + SFI + LI + GW and
Outflow = ET + RO + LO + L + DP

Where;
I = Irrigation
P = precipitation
SFI = surface flow into the control volume
LI = subsurface lateral flow into the control
volume
GW = groundwater seepage into the control
volume
ET = evapotranspiration
RO = surface flow out of the control volume
LO = subsurface lateral flow out of the control
volume
L = leaching requirement
Lysimeters
 Field Water Balance
• The water balance equation can also be
used to determine ET in irrigated fields
(without the use of lysimeters).

• The accuracy of ET estimates obtained in

this manner is usually reduced because it
is normally more difficult to control and/or
measure one or more of the terms in Eq.
 Empirical Methods
• Blaney-Criddle Method

• Jensen-Haise Method

• Pan Evaporation Method

• Penman Method
 Calculating ET
All methods for computing crop ET involve the
following equation.

ET = Kc x ETo
Where
ET = evapotranspiration for a specific crop (mm/day);
Eto= potential ET or reference crop ET (mm/day);
Kc= crop coefficient
Determination of ETo, ETc, and NIR
 Crop Coefficient (Kc)
• Crop Coefficient (Kc) relates the actual
rate at which a crop uses water (ET) to
potential evapotranspiration (ETo).

• Crop coefficients depend on the type of

crop and its stage of growth.
 Values of crop factor (Kc) for various crops and growth stages
Crop Initial stage Crop dev. stage Mid-season stage Late season stage
Barley/Oats/Wheat 0.35 0.75 1.15 0.45
Bean, green 0.35 0.70 1.10 0.90
Bean, dry 0.35 0.70 1.10 0.30
Cabbage/Carrot 0.45 0.75 1.05 0.90
Cotton/Flax 0.45 0.75 1.15 0.75
Cucumber/Squash 0.45 0.70 0.90 0.75
Eggplant/Tomato 0.45 0.75 1.15 0.80
Grain/small 0.35 0.75 1.10 0.65
Lentil/Pulses 0.45 0.75 1.10 0.50
Lettuce/Spinach 0.45 0.60 1.00 0.90
Maize, sweet 0.40 0.80 1.15 1.00
Maize, grain 0.40 0.80 1.15 0.70
Melon 0.45 0.75 1.00 0.75
Millet 0.35 0.70 1.10 0.65
Onion, green 0.50 0.70 1.00 1.00
Onion, dry 0.50 0.75 1.05 0.85
Peanut/Groundnut 0.45 0.75 1.05 0.70
Pea, fresh 0.45 0.80 1.15 1.05
Pepper, fresh 0.35 0.70 1.05 0.90
Potato 0.45 0.75 1.15 0.85
Radish 0.45 0.60 0.90 0.90
Sorghum 0.35 0.75 1.10 0.65
Soybean 0.35 0.75 1.10 0.60
Sugarbeet 0.45 0.80 1.15 0.80
Sunflower 0.35 0.75 1.15 0.55
 Pan Evaporation Method
ETo = Kpan x Epan

ETo = Reference crop evapotranspiration

(mm/day)
Kpan = Pan coefficient
Epan = Pan evaporation (mm)
Pan Evaporation Method
US Class A pan vs Colorado Sunken Pan

For the Class A evaporation pan, the K pan varies between 0.35 and 0.85.
Average K pan = 0.70.

For the Sunken Colorado pan, the K pan varies between 0.45 and 1.10.
Average K pan = 0.80.
Seasonal Water Requirements of
Major Crops (Source: OFWM)
Group Crop Seasonal Group Crop Seasonal
Water Water
Requirement Requirement
(mm) (mm)
Cereal Wheat 325-450 Fodder Berseam 800
Crops
Barley 250-325 Oats 400-500
Rice 1200-1600 Sorghum 450-650
Maize 300-350 Mott Napier
Grass

Oil-Seeds Rape and 235-650 Sudan 600-650

Mustered Grass
Sunflower 600-1000 Spices Turmeric 800
Soybean 450-700 Garlic 600-700
Sesame 500-600 Cumin 300
 Group Crop Seasonal Water Group Crop Seasonal Water
Requirement (mm) Requirement (mm)

Pulses Chickpea 300 Fruit Crops Almond 300-400

Lentils 300 Apple 500-750

Mungbean 400 Apricot 400-500

Vegetables Cauliflower 380-500 Cherry 500-700

Onion 820 Grapes 300-400

Peas 400-600 Pear 300-500

Potato 400-900 Peach 400-500

Tomato 400-600 Persimmon 400-500

Chillies 400-500 Plum 400-500

Bringal 600-700 Pomegranate 300-400

Turnip 300-350 Banana 1200-2200

Radish 300-350 Ber 200-300

Spinach 600-800 Chiku 600-900

Gourds 400-500 Citrus 900-1200

Cucumber 200-300 Date palm 900-1300

Ladyfinger (Okra) 400-600 Guava 500-750

Muskmelon 400-600 Lychee 500-750

Watermelon 400-600 Loquat 500-700

Sugar Crops Sugarcane 1600-1800 S Mango 500-750

2000-2200 A

Sugarbeet 550-750 Papaya 500-1000

Fiber Crops Cotton 700-875 Confectionary Crop Groundnuts 500-700

 Seasonal Water Requirements of
Major Crops (Source: FAO)
Crop Crop water need Crop Crop water need
(mm/total growing period) (mm/total growing period)

Alfalfa 800-1600 Pea 350-500

Banana 1200-2200 Pepper 600-900

Barley/Oats/Wheat 450-650 Potato 500-700

Bean 300-500 Rice (paddy) 450-700

Cabbage 350-500 Sorghum/Millet 450-650

Citrus 900-1200 Soybean 450-700

Cotton 700-1300 Sugarbeet 550-750

Maize 500-800 Sugarcane 1500-2500

Melon 400-600 Sunflower 600-1000

Onion 350-550 Tomato 400-800

Peanut 500-700
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