CROP WATER REQUIREMENTS

1
OBJECTIVE OF STUDY ON CROP WATER REQUIREMENT:

To decide possible cropping pattern of area

Effective use of available water

Plan and design an irrigation project

Plan water resource development in an area

Assess irrigation requirement of an area

Management of water supply from sources

2
CROP WATER REQUIREMENTS

Crop water requirement (CWR):
 It is the total amount of water required by the crop in a given period
of time for normal growth, under field conditions.

It includes;
 evapotranspiration,
 water used by crops for metabolic growth,
 water lost during conveyance and application of water and
 water required for special operations such as land preparation, tillage
and salt leaching etc.

It is expressed as the surface depth of water in mm, cm or inches.

CWR = Consumptive use (Cu)

+
Conveyance losses (Wu)
+
Water required for special operation (Ws)
3
CROP WATER REQUIREMENTS

The crop water requirement mainly depends on:

the climate: in a sunny and hot climate, crops need more water per day
than in a cloudy and cool climate
Climatic factor Crop water requirement
High Low
Sunshine Sunny (no clouds) cloudy (no sun)
Temperature hot cool
Humidity low (dry) high (humid)
Wind speed windy little wind

the crop type: crops like maize (Makei) or sugarcane (ganna) need
more water than crops like millet (Bajra) or sorghum

the growth stage of the crop: fully grown crops need more water than
crops that have just been planted.

Moreover, there are short duration crops, e.g. peas, with a duration of
the total growing season of 90-100 days and longer duration crops, e.g.
melons, with a duration of the total growing season of 120-160 days
4
CROP WATER REQUIREMENTS

Conveyance Losses:

These losses take place from diversion structure (barrage) to the field
(outlet).

Major loss of water in an irrigation channel is due to seepage(
absorption/ percolation) and evaporation.

In an earthen channels losses due to seepage are much more than the
losses due to evaporation.

The seepage losses depend upon the:

 Type of soil

 Subsoil water

 Age of canal

 Position of Full Supply Level w.r.t to Natural Surface Level

 Amount of Silt carried by canal

 Wetted perimeter

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 CROP WATER REQUIREMENTS

Irrigation water losses in canals Irrigation water losses in the field

1. Evaporation from the water surface,
1. Surface runoff, whereby water
2. Deep percolation to soil layers
ends up in the drain
underneath the canals, 3. Seepage
2. Deep percolation to soil layers
through the bunds of the canals, 4.
below the root zone
Overtopping the bunds
5. Bund breaks, 6. Runoff in the drain
7. Rat holes in the canal bunds 6
CROP WATER REQUIREMENTS

In Pakistan the following formula is proposed by Punjab Irrigation
Department for obtaining the conveyance losses in earthen channels,

K= 5.0Q0.625
 K= absorption loss per million square feet of wetted perimeter
 Q= Discharge in channel (cusecs).

According to Lacey

QA=0.0133 L Q0.5625
 QA= Absorption loss
 L= Length of channel in thousand feet
 Q= discharge in channel (cusecs)

7
SOURCES OF WATER FOR CROP USE

Effective Precipitation (ER):
 It is that part of total precipitation which is used by crop as soil
water reserve.
 It is the precipitation falling during the growing period of a crop
that is available to meet the evapotranspiration needs of the
crop. It is determined as:
ER = Total rainfall (P) – Runoff (R) – deep percolation (PW)

Gross Irrigation requirements of crops (IRg):

 It refers to the amount of water applied to the field from the start
of land preparation to harvest of the crop together with the water
lost through distributaries, field channels and during water
application to the crop field.
 IRg = CWR – (ER + ∆GW+∆SW )
 Where
 Ground Water Contribution for Crop Use (∆GW)
 Soil Water Contribution for Crop Use (∆SW)

Ground Water Contribution for Crop Use (∆GW):

 It refers to the water used by crops due to capillary rise in case
of shallow water tables.
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SOURCES OF WATER FOR CROP USE

Soil Water Contribution for Crop Use (∆SW):
 It refers to the difference in moisture content at the time of
sowing and harvesting of the crops that may be positive or
negative. It is given as:

Where:
 ∆SW = soil water contribution in cm
 Msi = moisture content at the time of sowing in the ith layer, %
 Mhi = moisture content at the time of harvesting in the ith layer, %
 Asi = Apparent specific gravity of soil (The specific gravity of a porous
solid when the volume used in the calculations is considered to
exclude the permeable voids)
 Di = depth of ith layer of the root zone soil, cm

Net Irrigation requirements

 It refers to the amount of water needed to replenish/fill soil
moisture deficit in the crop field.
IRn = IRg x Efficiency of water application
= Cu – ER - ∆SW 9
EVAPOTRANSPIRATION (ET) AND CONSUMPTIVE USE (CU)

Consumptive use (CU):
 It is the amount of water required by a crop for its vegetated
growth to evapotranspiration and building of plant tissues
plus evaporation from soils and intercepted precipitation.
 It is expressed in terms of depth of water

DEFINITIONS
a) Evaporation: The process by which water is changed from the liquid or
solid state into the gaseous state through the transfer of heat energy.

b) Transpiration: The evaporation of water absorbed by the crop which

is used directly in the building of plant tissue in a specified time. It does not
include soil evaporation.

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CLASSIFICATION OF CONSUMPTIVE USE

Daily consumptive use:
 The amount of water consumptively used during 24-hours.

 It is usually estimated
 to record the peak period consumptive use rates to formulate
the cropping pattern and
 to decide the water supply from sources during different
periods of cropping.

Peak period consumptive use:

 It is the average daily consumptive use during a few days
(6 to 10 days) of highest consumptive use in a season.

 It occurs when the vegetation is abundant, temperature is

high and the crops are in flowering stage.

 It is used in the planning of an irrigation system

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CLASSIFICATION OF CONSUMPTIVE USE

Seasonal consumptive use:
 It is the amount of water consumptively used by crops during
the entire cropping season/period.
 It is used to evaluate and decide the seasonal water supply to
a command area of an irrigation project.

Rabi Season Kharif Season

(October to March): (April to September):
Crop Consumptive Crop Consumptive
Use (cm) Use (cm)

Wheat 37 Cotton 25-40

Gram 30 Maize 45

Barley 30 Rice 125-150

Potato 60-90 Sugar Cane 90

Sugar cane 90

Fodder 40

Oil seed 45

Berseem 70
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EVAPOTRANSPIRATION (ET)

Evapotranspiration:
 It is defined as the water transpired by crop plants and the water
evaporated from the soil in the crop field and intercepted
precipitation by areal parts of plants in any specified time period

13
IMPORTANT TERMINOLOGY ON EVAPOTRANSPIRATION

Potential/reference crop evapotranspiration (ETo):
 This is the evapotranspiration rate from a reference surface (crop)
which is not short of water.

 The reference surface is a hypothetical grass reference crop with an

assumed crop height of 0.12m, a fixed surface resistance of 70sm-
1 and an albedo of 0.23.

 The reference surface closely resembles an extensive surface of

green, well-watered grass of uniform height, actively growing and
completely shading the ground.

Potential/reference crop evapotranspiration (ETo)

Surface resistance describes the resistance of vapour flow through the

transpiring crop and evaporating soil surface 14
IMPORTANT TERMINOLOGY ON EVAPOTRANSPIRATION

Actual crop evapotranspiration (ETc):
 It is the rate of evapotranspiration by a particular crop in a
given period under prevailing soil water and atmospheric
conditions.

 It refers to the evapotranspiration from a disease free crop

growing in a large field under optimal soil conditions with
adequate water and fertility and giving full potential production
under the given environment.
 It is usually calculated by multiplying the Crop Coefficient (Kc)
with ETo, thus:
ETc = Kc. ETo

Actual crop evapotranspiration (ETc) 15

FACTORS AFFECTING EVAPOTRANSPIRATION

Climatic factors:

Precipitation, with greater frequency and amount of rainfall, ET

becomes higher.

Solar radiations, it supplies energy for ET processes. With

increasing day length or solar radiation, ET becomes more.

Temperature, Temperature of plant and soil rises because of

more amount of solar radiation received from the sun and
consequently increases ET.

Wind speed, ET from soil surface and plants occurs at a higher

rate on a windy day. The moist air in the immediate vicinity of a
moist soil or leaf surface is swept away by wind and the dry air
occupies the space.

Relative humidity, ET varies inversely with the atmospheric

humidity

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FACTORS AFFECTING EVAPOTRANSPIRATION

Growing season:
 Length of growing season and the actual date of sowing and
maturing are important factors. The growing season of a crop
coinciding with the hotter part of the year is expected to increase
ET. Crops grown in different seasons have different ET.

Crop characteristics:
 Growth habit, canopy development, leaf area index, plant
density, duration and time of year when the growth is made, are
important consideration to study the effect of crop characteristics
on ET.

Soil characteristics:
 Hydraulic conductivity and water holding capacity of soil affect
ET.

Cultural Factors:
 Irrigation frequency, method of irrigation, depth of irrigation,
fertilizer application and mulching are the important cultural
factors affecting ET.

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CROP COEFFICIENT

Crop coefficient:

It is the ratio b/w the actual crop evapotranspiration to the
reference crop evapotranspiration.

Kc = ETc / ETo

It is determined experimentally for various crops.

ETc is determined by Lysimeter technique and ETo is

determined with USWB class A evaporation pan.

Kc is different for different crop and for different crop growth

stages.

It is mainly affected by crop type, soil type and climate of the

area.

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CROP COEFFICIENT (KC) CURVE

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SOIL-
SOIL-WATER (MOISTURE)
(MOISTURE) - PLANT RELATIONSHIP

Water is essential to crop plants for their growth and
development.

Amount of water required by the crops is influenced by the

soil type.

Soil water plant relationship is a process that requires to be

regulated for maximization of yields with a given unit of water.

An understanding of this relationship is essential in order that

water management principles are applied to various climate,
soil and cropping regions of both rain-fed and irrigated lands.

To understand this relationship, the concept of soil

water/moisture and field capacity is essential.

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SOIL WATER/MOISTURE AND FIELD CAPACITY

Gravitational moisture:
 When the water falls over the ground, a part of it gets absorbed
in the root zone, and the rest flows downwards under the action
of gravity, and is called as gravitational moisture.

Field Capacity:
 Immediately after the rain or irrigation water application, when all
the gravity water has drained down, a certain amount of water is
retained on the surface of soil grains by molecular attraction and
by loose chemical bonds (adsorption). This water cannot be
drained under the action of gravity and is called the field
capacity.

 Field capacity is very important because it is the water which is

available in the soil for crop use

 The total field capacity water is not used by the crops. The plants
can extract water from the soil till the permanent wilting point is
reached.
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SOIL WATER/MOISTURE AND FIELD CAPACITY

Fields capacity is further divided into two types:

1. Capillary moisture:
 It is that moisture which is attached to the soil molecules
by surface tension against gravitational forces and which
can be extracted by crop through capillarity.

2. Hygroscopic moisture:
 It is that moisture which is attached to the soil molecules
by loose chemical bond and it is not available to the plants
for use (adsorption).

Permanent wilting point:

 It is moisture content at which plant can no longer extract
sufficient water for its growth and wilts up.

Available moisture:
 It is the difference in moisture content between field
capacity and permanent wilting point.

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SOIL WATER/MOISTURE AND FIELD CAPACITY

Moisture
Content
(%)
WATER AVAILABILITY

Crop Period:

It is the time normally in days that a crop takes from the instance of
its sowing to harvesting.

Base period:

It is the time between first watering of crops at the time of its sowing
and the last watering of crops before harvesting

Delta of crops:

Total depth of water required by the crop in unit area during base
period. In other words it is the total depth of water required for
maturing the crop.

Volume of water required by the crop = Delta x Area
 or
Delta = Volume (acre-ft) / Area (acres)

Duty of irrigation water:

It is defined as the no. of hectares (acres) of land irrigated for full
growth of a given crop by supply of 1 m3/sec (1 ft3/sec) of water
continuously during the entire base period.
RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN DUTY, DELTA AND BASE PERIOD

Let there be a crop of base period B days.

Now the volume of water applied to this crop during B days @ 1 m3/sec
= V = 1 x 60 x 60 x 24 x B) m3 = 86400 B

By definition of duty, D, is the Area in hectare (10000m2) irrigated by 1m3/s

1 m3/s of water supplied for B days irrigates D hectares (104 m2) of land.

Therefore, total depth of water required by crop per unit area (Delta)

= Volume/Area = 86400B/104D

Hence,

Delta = ∆ = 8.64 B / D (meters)

Delta = ∆ = 864 B / D (centimeters)

Example: find the delta of a crop when its duty is 864 hectare/cumecs with
base period of 120 days.
WATER AVAILABILITY

Full Supply Factor/(Duty):
 The term duty is only used for existing or running projects, but in a
proposed project it is known as full supply factor.

Intensity of Irrigation:
 Percentage of culturable area irrigated during a base period or
annually

Cropping Intensity/cultivation intensity:

 It is to the %age of area of a particular crop with respect to culturable
command area

Cropping Pattern:
 It means how many crops and how much area for a crop is being
cultivated.
WATER AVAILABILITY

Water Allowance: It is the discharge in cusec required to irrigate 1000
Acres of an area and is expressed in cusec/1000 acres (or
in cumec/100 ha) at outlet head, distributory head or main canal head

Water Conveyance Efficiency: It is the ratio of the water delivered to
the farmer by conveyance system to the water introduced into the
canal at source.

Gross Command Area (GCA): is the total amount of area which

needs to be irrigated. It also includes the area which cannot be
cultivated e.g., villages, roads, utility etc.

Culturable Command Area (CCA): is the effective area which is
culturable or the area that is cultivated out of gross command area.

Non-Culturable Command Area (NCCA): It is the area which is not
cultivated.

CCA=GCA – Non-Culturable Command Area
PROBLEM

Find out the capacity of the reservoir if its culturable area is 65000 ha,
from the following data
B=BASE PERIOD
D=DUTY
METHODS OF ESTIMATING EVAPOTRANSPIRATION

These methods are classified into three types:

Direct methods
 Lysimeter method
 Field experimentation method
 Soil water depletion method
 Inflow-outflow method

Pan evaporimeter method

 USWB class-A pan evaporimeter

Empirical methods
 Blaney-criddle method
 Penman method
 Modified penman method
 Radiation method
 Penman Monteith equation

Source: Irrigation water management: principles and

practice By D. K. Majumda
DIRECT METHODS

Lysimeter method:

Used to measure ET and various components of water balance

It is a container (usually 0.5m – 2m in diameter) having an

experimental soil separated from the surrounding soil in the crop
field

Lysimeter are installed in fields with a large guard area having the
same crop as in the lysimeter

Measurements of different components for water balance studies

such as water added to lysimeter through precipitation and irrigation,
change in soil water storage and water lost through evaporation,
transpiration, runoff and deep percolation are made,
DIRECT METHODS

By recording the amount of precipitation that an area receives and the

amount lost through the soil, the amount of water lost to
evapotranspiration can be calculated.
DIRECT METHODS

The general relationship to estimate ET is :

Lysimeters are so constructed that measurements of deep percolation

and surface runoff are possible or it is possible to avoid these losses

Both weighing and non weighing type lysimeters are used for
measurement of ET

For very short period (daily or hourly) estimates of ET, weighing type
lysimeter is used
DIRECT METHODS

Field experimentation method:
 Field experiments with varying level of irrigation are carried out
to estimate seasonal consumptive use of irrigated crops

 Measurement of water supplied to the crops through effective

rainfall and irrigation and changes in the soil moisture reserves
during the growing season are made

 The water, thus, supplied under varying levels of irrigation is

then correlated with the yields obtained

 The quantity of water used to produce most profitable yield is

taken as CU
DIRECT METHODS

Field experimentation method:
DIRECT METHODS

Soil water depletion method:

Soil water contents in different layers of root zone are measured just
before and after irrigation or rainfall and during the period between two
successive irrigations as frequently as possible depending upon the
degree of accuracy desired.

The soil water depletion during any short period is considered as the
consumptive use for that period
DIRECT METHODS

The seasonal consumptive use is obtained by summing up soil
water depletion or losses during the different periods of
measurement in the growing season
DIRECT METHODS

Inflow-outflow method:
 It is used to estimate yearly consumptive use over large area
 It is also called as water balance method

 Change in soil water storage is considered negligible and it is

assumed that the subsurface inflow into the area is same as
subsurface outflow
PAN EVAPORIMETER METHOD

USWB class-A pan evaporimeter:

There exist a close relationship between the rate of consumptive use by

crop and the rate of evaporation from properly located pan evaporimeter.

Pan evaporation is the combined effect of all atmospheric factors and is

independent of plant and soil factors

Crop evapotranspiration rates for various crops may be estimated from

the pan evaporation rates multiplied by a factor known as crop factor
(Kcrop) which varies with the stages of growth, extent of ground cover
with foliage/leafage, climate and geographical locations
PAN EVAPORIMETER METHOD

It is the most widely used evaporimeter for finding evaporation from
the free water surface

The Class A Evaporation pan is circular, 120.7 cm in diameter and

25 cm deep. It is made of galvanized iron (22 gauge) with a stilling
pan

The pan is mounted on a wooden open frame platform which is 15

cm above ground level to facilitate the circulation of air beneath the
pan

Daily evaporation rate is given by the fall in water level measured in

the stilling well by hook/point gauge

Adjustments are made to the evaporation values if rainfall occurs

during a period of measurement

After measuring the drop in water level each time, water is added to
the pan to bring back the water level to original position of pointer tip
level
PAN EVAPORIMETER METHOD

The relationship between

potential crop
evapotranspiration and pan
evaporation is given as:

42
PAN EVAPORIMETER METHOD
EMPIRICAL METHODS

Blaney criddle method

Penman method

Modified penman method

Radiation method

Penman Monteith equation

EMPIRICAL METHODS

Blaney criddle method:

Developed a formula for estimating CU based on temperature, daylight
hours, and locally developed crop coefficients
EMPIRICAL METHODS
(Recommended by FA0)
EMPIRICAL METHODS

Penman method:

Developed the formula using important climatic parameters such as
solar radiation, temperature, vapour pressure and wind velocity to
compute the evaporation from open free water surface

ET is obtained by multiplying with crop coefficient
EMPIRICAL METHODS

It is quite satisfactory for both humid and arid regions under calm
weather conditions

Its drawback is that it uses many climatological parameters that are
difficult to obtain
EMPIRICAL METHODS

Modified Penman method:
EMPIRICAL METHODS
EMPIRICAL METHODS

Radiation method:

n
Rs = (0.25 + 0.50 ) RA
N
PENMAN-
PENMAN-MONTEITH EQUATION

Where:
Rn is the net radiation,
G is the soil heat flux,
(es - ea) represents the vapour pressure deficit of the air,
ρa is the mean air density at constant pressure,
cp is the specific heat of the air,
∆ represents the slope of the saturation vapour pressure temperature
relationship,
λ is the latent heat of vaporization and γ is psychrometric constant, and
rs and ra are the (bulk) surface and aerodynamic resistances.
PENMAN-
PENMAN-MONTEITH EQUATION

The surface resistance, rs, describes the resistance of vapour flow
through stomata openings, total leaf area and soil surface.

The aerodynamic resistance, ra, describes the resistance from the

vegetation upward and involves friction from air flowing over
vegetative surfaces.

The latent heat of vaporization, λ, expresses the energy required

to change a unit mass of water from liquid to water vapour in a
constant pressure and constant temperature process. The value of
the latent heat varies as a function of temperature

The specific heat at constant pressure Cp is the amount of

energy required to increase the temperature of a unit mass of air by
one degree at constant pressure. Its value depends on the
composition of the air, i.e., on its humidity
PENMAN-
PENMAN-MONTEITH EQUATION

The vapour pressure deficit is the difference between the saturation
(es) and actual vapour pressure (ea) for a given time period.

The solar radiation received at the top of the earth's atmosphere on

a horizontal surface perpendicular to sun’s rays is called the
extraterrestrial (solar) radiation, Ra

The net radiation, Rn, is the difference between incoming and

outgoing radiation of both short and long wavelengths. It is the
balance between the energy absorbed, reflected and emitted by the
earth's surface or the difference between the incoming net
shortwave (Rns) and the net outgoing longwave (Rnl) radiation

The soil heat flux, G, is the energy that is utilized in heating the
soil. it is positive when the soil is warming and negative when the
soil is cooling. The soil heat flux is small compared to Rn and may
often be ignored
EVAPOTRANSPIRATION (ET) AND CONSUMPTIVE USE (CU)

Consumptive use:

 It is the amount of water required by a crop for its vegetated

growth to evapotranspiration and building of plant tissues
plus evaporation from soils and intercepted precipitation.

 It is the evapotranspiration plus the water used by plants for

metabolic activities which is hardly 1 % of evapotranspiration

 It is the water required by plants to fulfill the evapotranspiration

needs of crops. (FAO)

 It is the total amount of water used by the plants in transpiration

(building of plant tissues etc) and evaporation from adjacent soils
or from plant leaves in any specified time period. (S.K. GARG)

 It is expressed in terms of depth of water

55
SOIL WATER/MOISTURE AND FIELD CAPACITY

Moisture
Content
(%)

56

Command Area: The area which lies on
down stream side of project (canal) to which
water can reach by gravity action
COMPONENTS OF GLOBAL ENERGY BALANCE
MULCHING (GRASS
GRASS CLIPPINGS, LEAVES, STRAW, PLASTIC)