Water Matters
Using ET to estimate water use
By Jenelle Hare, DPI&F and Cotton Catchment Communities CRC
C
an growers estimate or measure the
volume of water used by the crop
using evapotranspiration (ET)? The
answer is “Yes!”
Crop water use can be estimated or cal-
culated through the use of ET data. Data
Automatic weather station plus
evaporation pan and rain gauge at trial
site during the 2006–07 season.
Figure 1: Schematic diagram of a stoma
Source: Allen, R.G. et al (1998) Crop evapotranspiration: guidelines for computing crop water
requirements, FAO Irrigation and Drainage Paper 56.
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can be obtained from the Bureau of Me-
terology SILO web site or from on-farm
automatic weather stations. This method
is another tool that growers can use to
gain information on their crop’s water re-
quirements. A point to bear in mind is that
the crop evapotranspiration is the demand
that must be met by in-season rainfall, ir-
rigation and stored soil water at sowing.
The information below explains the rela-
tionship with crop evapotranspiration and
shows how ET can be measured to deter-
mine crop water use.
The evapotranspiration (ET)
process
• Evapotranspiration (ET) is the combined
loss of water to the environment due to
evaporation from the soil surface, and
transpiration through plants.
• Transpiration results from the vaporisa-
tion of water within plant tissues and its
subsequent loss through the small open-
ings on the plant leaf called stomata
(Figure 1).
THE AUSTRALIAN COTTONGROWER — 39
• Evaporation is the conversion of water
from liquid to vapour.
Reference evapotranspiration (ETO) is
the loss of water to the atmosphere by
evaporation and transpiration from a ref-
erence crop, usually a well-watered and
mown lawn 100 mm in height. By apply-
ing a suitable coefficient, this value can be
used to estimate the crop evapotranspira-
tion (ETc) and the evaporation losses from
storage and reticulation systems.
Crop evapotranspiration (ETc) describes
the actual ET of a crop given standard
conditions of optimum soil water, excel-
lent management conditions, large fields
and full production.
Understanding and determining crop
(ETc) is critical for scheduling irrigations to
meet the crop’s water use demands and to
optimise crop production.
The ET rate is normally expressed in
millimetres (mm) per unit of time (often
mm/day) — it represents the amount of
water evaporated from a cropped surface
in units of water depth.
100 mm depth of water is equal to
1 ML of water per hectare.
The rate of ET is determined primarily
by meteorological factors and the availabil-
ity of soil water. Total crop ET will also vary
with canopy size, or leaf area. The separa-
tion of ET into evaporation and transpira-
tion over the growing period for an annual
field crop is shown in Figure 2.
Factors affecting
evapotranspiration
Weather
• Radiation;
• Air temperature;
• Humidity; and,
• Wind speed.
The evaporation power of the atmos-
phere is expressed by the reference crop
evapotranspiration (ETO), which repre-
sents the ET from a standardised vegetated
 …40s
 Water Matters
w39…ET TO ESTIMATE WATER USE Table 1: Crop Coefficients (KC) for major irrigated field crops
Crop KC initial KC mid-season KC end of season
surface (well watered grass). Calculation of
ETO is generally performed by automatic Barley 0.30 1.15 0.25
weather stations, software packages or ET Chickpea 0.40 1.00 0.35
data providers (such as SILO http://www. Cotton 0.35 1.15-1.20 0.70–0.50
bom.gov.au/silo/), and is not covered Maize 0.30 1.20 0.35
here. Navy bean 0.40 1.15 0.35
The current standard for calculating Peanut 0.40 1.15 0.60
ETO is the Penman-Monteith method
Sorghum 0.30 1.00–1.10 0.55
— also referred to as the FAO 56 method.
Soybeans 0.40 1.15 0.50
Calculations based on pan evaporation are
no longer used as the standard. Sunflower 0.35 1.15 0.35
Crop Wheat 0.30 1.15 0.25
• Crop type; Source: Allen, R.G. et al (1998) Crop evapotranspiration: guidelines for computing crop water requirements,
FAO Irrigation and Drainage Paper 56.
• Variety; and,
• Crop development stage Figure 2: Diagram of partitioning of evapotranspiration
These factors affect the rate of ETc
from crops grown in large, well-managed
paddocks. Differences in crop height, re-
flection, ground cover, and resistance to
transpiration will result in different ETc lev-
els in different crop types under identical
environmental conditions.
Environmental and management
conditions
The actual crop ETc can be influenced
by factors that impact on the ability for the
standard conditions mentioned above to
be satisfied such as:
• Soil salinity;
• Inadequate nutrition;
• Soil compaction;
• Diseases and pests;
Source: Allen, R.G. et al (1998) Crop evapotranspiration: guidelines for computing crop water
• Cultivation and irrigation practices; requirements, FAO Irrigation and Drainage Paper 56.
 …42s

IRRIGATION DESIGN & Figure 3: The relationship between Reference

Evapotranspiration (ETO) and standard Crop Evapotranspiration
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J o b fevaluation
or this month Source: Allen, R.G. et al (1998) Crop evapotranspiration: guidelines for computing crop water
– Pumping station performance requirements, FAO Irrigation and Drainage Paper 56.
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40 — THE AUSTRALIAN COTTONGROWER OCTOBER–NOVEMBER 2008

 Water Matters
w40…ET TO ESTIMATE WATER USE

Table 2: ETO data obtained from SILO as well as

the calculations of daily ETC

Daily crop water

Date ETO KC
use ETC mm/day

February 15 4.6 1.15 5.3

February 16 3.1 1.15 3.6
February 17 4.4 1.15 5.1
February 18 4.2 1.15 4.8
February 19 5.5 1.15 6.3
February 20 4.4 1.15 5.1
February 21 5.7 1.15 6.6
s2EDUCEWATERLOSS
• Windbreaks which reduce wind velocities across the adjacent
s%NVIRONMENTALLYFRIENDLY field;
• Irrigation systems that apply water directly to the root zone of
s%ASYTOAPPLY crops (limiting evaporation losses as soil surface is dry); and,
• Surface mulches which substantially reduce soil evaporation
when crops are small.
Where these factors are significant, calculation of ETc should be
modified accordingly.
Determining crop evapotranspiration
A Crop Coefficient (KC) is used to convert the weather derived
Reference Evapotranspiration (ETO) to an estimate of Crop Eva-
potranspiration (ETc) using the formula below
ETc = KC x ETO
The relationship between Reference Evapotranspiration (ETO)
and standard Crop Evapotranspiration (ETc) through the Crop
Coefficient (KC) is represented in Figure 3.
The KC integrates the effect of characteristics that distinguish
the crop from the grass reference crop used to calculate ETO. Dif-
ferent crops have different KC values due to different crop char-
acteristics.
The KC value also changes over the growing season with changes
in crop development and with changes affecting soil evaporation.
Estimates of KC values for the major irrigated crops are presented
in Table 1.
The crop development stages used to select a KC value (Figure
4) are:
1. Initial stage — planting until 10 per cent ground cover.
2. Crop development stage — 10 per cent to effective groundcover
(around 70–80 per cent).
3. Mid-season stage — 70–80 per cent groundcover to the start
of maturity.
4. Late season stage — the start of maturity until harvest.
Example
We want to determine the crop water use over a period of a
week in mid February for a crop of soybeans. The soybeans are
in their mid-season phase, so the crop coefficient (KC) will be 1.15
www.aquatain.com (from Table 1).
Daily crop water use (ETC) = ETO x KC.

1800 003 244 See the calculated results in Table 2.

Acknowledgement: Information in this article was directly accessed from
25077

the Cotton and Grains Workshop Series — Scheduling I. If anyone is

sales@ultimateagri.com.au interested in participating in this workshop please contact any of the
Cotton CRC Water Team.

42 — THE AUSTRALIAN COTTONGROWER OCTOBER–NOVEMBER 2008