Irrigation water

requirement
Base:
• it is the time period between the first watering of
the crop during its sowing to last watering before
its harvesting. It is generally expressed in 'days'. 
• The another related term is Crop period. For
practical purpose Base period and Crop period are
taken as same but they have a little difference.
Crop period is the time period between sowing of a
crop to its harvesting. In this manner, Crop period
is slightly greater than the Base period. 
Delta:
• Some quantity of water is required for any crop to come to its
maturity. The total quantity of water required for any crop
during its base period(B) for its full fledged nourishment
when expressed in depth of water(i.e. in 'cm' or in 'inches') is
called its Delta. The total quantity of water(i.e. volume of
water) is divided by the total irrigated area to obtain Delta of
crop of the irrigated area.

Duty
• Duty of a water simply expresses the number of hectare of
land that can be irrigated for the full growth of the given crop
by supplying 1 cumec water continuously during the entire
base period of that crop. It is generally represented by 'D'. Its
unit is hectare/cumec.
• For example, if water flowing at the rate of 1 cumec, runs
continuously for B days of the crop matures 100 hectares
then Duty of that crop is 100 hectare/cumec to the base of B
days
Relation between Delta and Duty:
Let a crop of Base period B for which 1 cumec water is
supplied continuously for its full growth.

Then the total volume of water supplied during B days

for that Crop = (1*B*24*60*60) cubic meter.
By the definition of duty, let say it matures D hectares
of land.

Then the total depth of water supplied during base

period B = (1*B*24*60*60)/(D*10000)

=8.64B/D meters
We know total depth of water supplied during base
period of a crop is Delta.
Then, Delta= 8.64B/D meters.
Factors Affecting Duty and
Delta
• Soil characteristics
• Climatic condition
• Rainfall
• Base period
• Type of crop
• Topography of agriculture land
• Method of ploughing
• Method of irrigation
• Water tax
Gross Command Area (GCA): An Irrigation Canal
system normally lies in a doab ( i.e., area between two
drainages). All the area within the boundaries of canal
system is known as Gross Command Area. It includes both
- Unculturable and culturable areas
Culturable Command Area (CCA): The gross command
area contains unfertile barren land, alkaline soil, local
ponds, villages and other areas as habitation. These areas
are called unculturable areas. The remaining area on
which crops can be grown satisfactorily is known as
cultivable command area (CCA). Culturable command
area can further be divided into 2 categories
1. Culturable cultivated area: It is the area in which crop is
grown at a particular time or crop season.
2. Culturable uncultivated area: It is the area in which
crop is not sown in a particular season.
• Gross command area
(GCA): The total area
lying between drainage
boundaries which can be
commanded or irrigated
by a canal system.
• G.C.A = C.C.A +
UNCULTURABLE AREA
• Intensity of irrigation: is the areas irrigated during
each crop season (Rabi, Kharif, etc) is expressed as a
percentage of the CCA which represents the intensity
of irrigation for the crop season.
• Cropping intensity refers to raising of a number of
crops from the same field during one agriculture year. 
• Capacity Factor : Generally, a canal is designed for a
maximum discharge capacity. But, actually it is not
required that the canal runs to that maximum
capacity all the time of the base period. So, the ratio
of the average discharge to the maximum discharge
(designed discharge) is known as capacity factor.
Irrigation interval
• PET
• AET
• Field
Capacity
• Permanent
Wilting Point
• Available
water
 Total water requirement in growing a crop

• Consumptive Use : is the amount of water transpired

during plant growth plus what evaporates from the
soil surface in the crop area.
• The water that is required to irrigate a field or plot of
land growing the particular crop not only has to satisfy
the consumptive use, i.e. evapotranspiration needs for
growing the crop, but would also include the following:
- Losses in the form of deep percolation while
conveying water from the inlet of the field up to its last
or tail end as the water gets distributed within the field
- Water requirement for special operations like land
preparation, transplanting, leaching of salts, etc
• Losses of water and efficiency is a major issue in
irrigation engineering
• The net irrigation requirement (NIR) is defined
as the amount of irrigation water required to be
delivered in the field to meet the consumptive
requirement of crop as well as other needs such as
leaching, pre-sowing and nursery water
requirement (if any). Thus,
NIR = CIR + LR + PSR + NWR

Where
LR = Leaching requirement
PSR = Pre-sowing requirement
NWR = Nursery water requirement
• Field Irrigation Requirement (FIR) is defined as
the amount of water required to meet the net
irrigation requirements plus the amount of water
lost as surface runoff and through deep percolation.
 Irrigation Losses and
Efficiency
• Now, consider an irrigated area where there
is a single source of water (say, a ground
water pump) is supplying water to a number
of fields and water is applied to each field by
rotation. Naturally, some water is lost
through the respective turnouts as Water
Application Loss. Hence, the source must
supply a larger amount of water than that
required at any point of time by adding up
the flows to the fields turnouts that are open
at that point of time. Thus, the capacity of
the water supply source may be termed as
the gross irrigation requirement (GIR).
• Irrigation efficiency (IE) is the ratio of
the amount of water consumed by the
crop to the amount of water supplied
through irrigation
 Irrigation Losses and Efficiency
• Water Conveyance Efficiency: conveyance
efficiency is defined as the net amount of water
delivered to a farm, as a fraction of the amount
taken from some source. The difference between
the two amounts represents the seepage and
evaporative losses incurred en route from source to
field. 
• Water Application Efficiency: on-farm application
efficiency or field application efficiency generally
refers to the fraction of the water volume applied to
a farm or a field that is "consumed" by a crop,
relative to the amount applied. Crop consumption
consists of the amount of water actually absorbed
by the crop, most of which is generally transpired
to the atmosphere (only a small fraction, often less
than 1 percent, being retained in the vegetative
biomass). It may be up to 10%.
 Irrigation Losses and Efficiency

• Crop Water use efficiency : The relevant

measure here is the response of the crop to
irrigation, not in percentage terms but as total
biomass produced (above-ground dry matter)
per unit mass of water taken up by the crop.
Since, as mentioned above, well over 90
percent of the water taken up by plants in the
field is normally transpired, crop water-use
efficiency is in effect the reciprocal of what has
long been known as the transpiration ratio.
• An alternative way to characterize crop water-
use efficiency is in terms of the marketable
crop produced per unit volume of water. 
 Ways to improve water-use efficiency
Conservation of water
• Techniques of irrigation: Sub-surface irrigation, drip
irrigation or sprinkler.
• Minimize foliar interception by under-canopy, rather than
by overhead sprinkling.
• Reduce direct evaporation during irrigation by avoiding
midday water supply.
• Reduce conveyance losses by lining channels or,
preferably, by using closed conduits.
• Reduce runoff and percolation losses due to over
irrigation.
• Reduce evaporation from bare soil by mulching and by
keeping the inter-row strips dry.
• Innovative ideas: Cover the canal with solar panel,
floating object, chemical film.
• Plant more trees at both sides of the canal
 Ways to improve water-use efficiency

Enhancement of crop growth

• Select most suitable and marketable crops for the region.

• Use optimal timing for planting and harvesting.
• Use optimal tillage (avoid excessive cultivation).
• Apply manures and green manures where possible and
fertilize effectively (preferably by injecting the necessary
nutrients into the irrigation water).
• Practice soil conservation for long-term sustainability.
• Provide good quality water
• Avoid progressive salinization by monitoring water-table
elevation and early signs of salt accumulation, and by
appropriate drainage.
• Irrigate at high frequency and in the exact amounts
needed to prevent water deficits, taking account of
weather conditions and crop growth stage.