Water requirement of crops

It is essential to know the water requirement of a crop from its sowing time up to
harvest. Naturally different crops may have different water requirements at different
places of the same country, depending upon the climate, type of soil, method of
cultivation, effective rain etc.

Functions of Irrigation Water

• Irrigation water acts as a nutrient carrier and supplies moisture to the soil, which
is essential for the growth of bacteria, beneficial for the growth of plants.
• The moisture facilitates chemical actions within the plant leading to its growth.
• It controls the temperature of soil and makes more favourable environment for
the healthy growth of the plants. It also softens the tillage pans.
• Irrigation water with controlled supplies dilutes the salts present in soil

Crop period and base period:

The time period that elapses from the instant of its sowing to the instant of its harvesting
is called the crop period. The time between the first watering of a crop at the time of
its sowing to its last watering before harvesting is called the base period.

Frequency of irrigation: Time interval between two consecutive watering.

Frequency of irrigation α 1/temperature

Duty and Delta of a crop:

Delta is the total depth of water required-by a crop during the entire period of crop in
the field, and is denoted by a symbol Δ.

The term duty means the area of land that can be irrigated with unit volume of irrigation
water. Quantitatively, duty is defined as the area of land expressed in hectares that can
be irrigated with unit discharge, that is, 1 cumec flowing throughout the base period,
expressed in days. It is denoted by a symbol D.

Relationship between duty and delta:

Let there be a crop of base period B days. Let one cumec of water be applied to this
crop on the field for B days.
Now volume of water applied to this crop during B days

V= 1 × 60 × 60 × 24 × B = 86400 B (cubic meter)

By definition of duty (D), one cubic meter supplied for B days matures D hectares of
land.

This quantity of water (V) matures D hectares of land of 104 D sq.m of area.

𝑉𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑚𝑒 86400 𝐵 8.64𝐵

Total depth of water applied on this land = = = 𝑚𝑒𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑠
𝐴𝑟𝑒𝑎 104 𝐷 𝐷

By definition this total depth of water is called delta (Δ)

8.64 𝐵 864 𝐵
𝛥= 𝑚𝑒𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑠 = 𝑐𝑚
𝐷 𝐷

Factor on which duty depends: Duty of irrigation water depends upon the following
factor

1) Types of crop: As different crops require different amount of water for maturity,
duties are also required. The duty would vary inversely as the water requirement of
crop.
2) Climate and season: Some water applied to the field is expected to be lost through
evaporation and deep percolation. These losses will vary with season. Hence duty
varies season to season and also from time to time in the same season
3) Useful rainfall: If some of the rain, falling directly over the irrigated land, is useful
for the growth of the crop, then so much less irrigation water will be required to
mature the crop. More the useful rainfall, less will be the requirement of irrigation
water and hence more will be the duty of irrigation water.
4) Types of soil: If the permeability of the soil under the irrigated crop is high, the
water lost due to percolation will be more and hence the duty will be less. Therefore
for sandy soils where the permeability is more the duty of water is less.
5) Efficiency of cultivation method: If the cultivation method is faulty and less
efficient, then the amount of water actually reaching the plant roots would be less.
Hence, for proper crop growth more water would be required than an equivalent
efficient system and therefore duty will be less. If the irrigation water is used
economically, then duty of water will improve.
 Importance of duty: It helps in designing an efficient canal irrigation system.
Knowing the total available water at the head of main canal, and the overall duty
for all the crops required to be irrigated in different seasons of the year, the area
which can be irrigated can be works out. Inversely if we know the crop area required
to be irrigated and their duties we can workout the discharge required for designing
the canal.
Measurement for improving duty of water:
1) Land to be used for cultivation should as far as possible be levelled.
2) The field should be properly ploughed to the required depth
3) Improved modern cultivation method may be preferably be adopted.
4) Manure fertilisers should be added to increase water holding capacity of the soil
5) Rotation of crops should be preferred as this will ensure increased crop yields with
minimum use of water.
6) The source of irrigation water should be situated within the prescribed limits
7) Canal carrying irrigation supplies should be lined to reduce seepage and
evaporation, therefore reducing on filed requirement of water and consequently
improving the duty of water.
8) Evaporation losses can be minimised by using water as quickly as possible.

Irrigation Efficiencies
i) Efficiency of water – conveyance (ƞ𝑐 ): It is the ratio of the water delivered into
the fields from the outlet point to the channel, to the water entering into the
channel at the starting point.
ii) Efficiency of water application (ƞ𝑎 ): It is the ratio of the quantity of water stored
into the root zone of the crops to the quantity of water actually delivered into
the field. It may also be called on farm efficiency.
iii) Efficiency of water- storage (ƞ𝑠 ): It is the ratio of the water stored in the root
zone during irrigation to the water needed in the root zone prior to irrigation.
iv) Efficiency of water use (ƞ𝑢 ): It is the ratio of the water beneficially used
including leaching water to the quantity of water delivered.
v) Uniformity coefficient or water efficiency: The effectiveness of irrigation may
also be measured by its water distribution efficiency (ƞ𝑑 )
 𝑑
ƞ𝑑 = 1 −
𝐷
Where D= Mean distribution efficiency
d= Average of the absolute values of deviation from the mean

Certain important definition

a) Crop ratio: The area to be irrigated for Rabi crop is generally more than for the
Kharif crop. This ratio of proposed area, to be irrigated in Kharif season to that
in the Rabi season is called crop ratio.
b) Paleo irrigation: Sometimes, in the initial stages before the crop is sown, the
land is very dry. This happens usually at the time of sowing Rabi crops because
of hot September, when the soil may be too dry to be sown easily. In such a
case, the soil is first moistured with water to help to sowing of seeds, and the
water application for this purpose is known as Paleo Irrigation.
c) Kor watering: The total quality of water required by a crop is applied through
a number of waterings at certain intervals throughout the base period of the crop.
However, the quantity of water required to be applied during each of these
waterings is not the same. In general, for all crops during the first watering after
the plants have grown a few centimeters high, the quantity of water required is
more than that during subsequent waterings. The first watering after the plants
have grown a few centimeters high is known as Kor watering and the depth of
water applied during watering is known as Kor depth. The watering must be
done in a limited period which is known as the Kor period.

Consumptive use or evapotranspiration: Consumptive use for a crop may be

defined as the total amount of water used by the plants in transpiration and
evaporation from adjacent soils, in any specified time. It is the combined measure
of transpiration loss and evaporation loss from the soil body. The values of
consumptive use (Cu) may be different for different crops and may be different for
the same crop at different time and places.

Transpiration: The transpiration is defined as the process by which the water

leaves a living plant during photosynthesis, through its leaves to enter the
atmosphere as water vapour.
Consumptive irrigation requirement: It is the amount of irrigation water required
in order to meet the evapotranspiration needs of the crop during its full growth.

Net irrigation requirement: It is the amount of irrigation water required in order

to meet the evapotranspiration need of the crop as well as other needs such as
leaching.