Cropping Requirement:

Cropping patterns depends upon the climatic, land and irrigation conditions of
the specific are. Every crop has required a specific amount of water for its
growth. Water requirement of crops refers to the water required for raising a
crop in a given period, which includes consumptive use and other unavoidable
losses such as leaching and percolation. It is called Delta and is expressed as
depth of water in inches, mm or cm.
Consumptive use of water or Evapotranspiration is one of the important
elements of the hydrological cycle from the time waterfalls upon the land as
precipitation until it reaches the ocean or it returns to the atmosphere. The
subject of consumptive use, which includes evaporation of water from land
and water surfaces and transpiration by vegetation, is becoming increasingly
significant, particularly in arid and semi arid irrigated areas of the world.
Normally a crop has to be irrigated before soil moisture is depleted below 50 %
of it availability in the root zone. Hence water management is planned for the
use of better utilization of in Agriculture.