CHAPTER THREE

CROP WATER REQUIRMENT

(CWR)
 CWR
After the end of this chapter students will be able
to equipped with the following concepts :
 Crop water Requirement

 Reference and Actual ET and their estimation

methods
 Irrigation performance Evaluation techniques
 Crop Water Requirements
It is the total amount of water required by the crop/plant throughout

its base period.

 In irrigation, it is essential to know the amount of water needed by

crops.

This determines the quantity of water to be added by irrigation and

helps in day to day management of irrigation systems.

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.
Duty of irrigation water and delta of crops
1. Duty (D) of irrigation water:
• Is defined as the area of the land which can be irrigated if one
cumec (m3/sec) of water was applied to the land continuously
for the entire base period of the crop.
• It is expressed in hectares/cumecs.

2. Delta (∆) of crops:

• Is the total depth of water required by a crop 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 m3
• By definition of duty, 1 m3 of water supplied for B days
matures/irrigates D hectares (104 m2) of land.
• So total depth of water supplied to this land
(Delta)=Volume/Area = 86400B/104D
 Example
• Find the delta for a crop applied when its duty is 864
hectare/cumecs with base period of 120 days.

Delta = 8.64*120/864
Delta = 1.2 m
 Crop Water Requirements (CWR)
 It includes evapotranspiration, water used by crops for
metabolic growth, water lost during application of
water, the water required for special operations such as
land preparation, and salt leaching etc.
 It is expressed as the surface depth of water in mm, cm
or inches per unit area.
CWR = Consumptive use (Cu) + conveyance losses(Wu)
+ water required for special operation (Ws)
 Evapotranspiration (ET) and Consumptive use(Cu)
Evapotranspiration:
It is defined as the water transpired by crop plants and the water
evaporated from the soil in the crop field and intercepted by areal parts
of plants in any specified time period.

Consumptive use:
It is the evapotranspiration plus the water used by plants for metabolic
activities which is hardly 1 % of ET.

Consumptive use for a particular crop may be defined as the total

amount of water used by the plant in transpiration (building of plant
tissue etc.) and evaporation from adjacent soils.
 Important terminology on Evapotranspiration
Potential / reference crop evapotranspiration (ETo)
 It is the highest rate of evapotranspiration (ET) from short green grass
cover of uniform height (0.12m), actively growing, completely shading
the ground and no water shortage resembles the reference crop.

Actual crop evapotranspiration (ETc):

 It is the rate of evapotranspiration by a particular crop in a given

period under prevailing /usual soil water and atmospheric conditions.
 Factors affecting Evapotranspiration
Climatic factors: Climatic factors include:
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.

Relative humidity: ET varies by the atmospheric humidity

Crop type and growth stage of crops
 Crop Coefficient(Kc)
It is the ratio b/n the actual crop Evapotranspiration to the reference crop
evapotranspiration.
Kc = ETc / ETo
 It determined experimentally for various crops
 Kc is different for different crop and for different crop growth stages
 It is mainly affected by crop type, soil type ,growing season , cropping stage
and climate.
 EFFECTIVE PRECIPITATION (Peff)
• ER is defined as the rainfall that is effectively stored in the root
zone that can be utilized by crops.
• All the rainfall that falls is not useful or effective. Part of the rain
water percolates below the root zone of the plants and part of the
rain water flows away as soil surface run- off.
 four methods for calculating the ER from entered monthly TRF data.
1. Fixed Percentage Effective Rainfall

The effective rainfall is taken as a fixed percentage of the monthly

rainfall;

Effective Rainfall = % of Total Rainfall of a month.

 2. Dependable Rain

An empirical formula developed by FAO based on analysis for

different arid and sub-humid climates.

ER = Total rainfall (P) – Runoff (R) – deep percolation (PW)

Effective Rainfall = 0.6 * Total Rainfall – 10:

(Total Rainfall < 70 mm)

Effective Rainfall = 0.8 * Total Rainfall – 24:

(Total Rainfall > 70 mm)

 3. Empirical Formula for Effective Rainfall

Similar to FAO formula with some parameters left to the user to

define. The formula is as follows:
Effective Rainfall = a * Total Rainfall – b: (Total Rainfall < z mm)
Effective Rainfall = c * Total Rainfall - d:(Total Rainfall > z mm)
Where a, b, c, and z are the variables to be defined by the user.
4.Method of USDA Soil Conservation Service (default)
Effective Rainfall = (Total Rainfall⧸125) * (125 - 0.2 * TR)
(Total Rainfall < 250 mm)
Effective Rainfall = 125 + 0.1 * Total Rainfall
(Total Rainfall > 250 mm)
These formulae can be applied in areas with a maximum
slope of 4-5%:
Pe = 0.8 P - 25 if P > 75 mm/month
Pe = 0.6 P - 10 if P < 75 mm/month
where P = rainfall or precipitation (mm/month)
Pe = effective rainfall or effective precipitation
(mm/month)
 ET measurement

Lysimeter experiment

Field experimental plots

Soil moisture studies

Water balance method

Reading assignment:
Climatic Approaches to estimate evapotranspiration
1. FAO Balnney-Criddle Method
2. FAO Radiation Method
3. FAO Penman Method
4. Hargreave's Class A Pan Evaporation Method
5. FAO Pan Evaporation Method
6. FAO Penman-Monteith Method
7. Thornthwaite Method
8. Enku Method (Temesgen’s Formula)
 1. FAO Balnney-Criddle Method

 Propose by Blaney and Criddle (1962)

 consumptive use is carried out by correlating it with sunshine Tᵒ.
ET0 = k P (0.46T + 8)
Where;
K - is the monthly crop coefficient determined from experimental
data
ETo - the potential evapotranspiration in (mm/day)
Tm - the mean monthly temperature in 0C,
P - is the monthly percentage of hours of bright sunshine in the year.
OR. ET o   K .F
F  (0.0457Tm  0.8128) P
 Table 1: Monthly day light hours percentage (P) to be used by
Blaney-Criddle Formula
Lat.oN Jan Feb Mar April May June July Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec

0 8.50 7.66 8.49 8.21 8.50 8.22 8.50 8.49 8.21 8.50 8.22 8.50

10 8.13 7.47 8.45 8.37 8.81 8.60 8.86 8.71 8.25 8.34 7.91 8.10

15 7.94 7.36 8.43 8.44 8.98 8.80 9.05 8.83 8.28 8.26 7.75 7.88

20 7.74 7.25 8.41 8.52 9.15 9.00 9.25 8.96 8.30 8.18 7.58 7.66

25 7.53 7.14 8.39 8.61 9.33 9.23 9.45 9.09 8.32 8.09 7.40 7.42

30 7.30 7.03 8.38 8.72 9.53 9.49 9.67 9.22 8.33 7.99 7.19 7.15

35 7.05 6.88 8.35 8.83 9.76 9.77 9.93 9.37 8.36 7.87 6.97 6.86

40 6.76 6.72 8.33 8.95 10.02 10.08 10.22 9.54 8.39 7.75 6.72 6.52

42 6.63 6.65 8.31 9.00 10.14 10.22 10.35 9.62 8.40 7.69 6.62 6.37

44 6.49 6.58 8.30 9.06 10.26 10.38 10.49 9.70 8.41 7.63 6.49 6.21

46 6.34 6.50 8.29 9.12 10.39 10.54 10.64 9.79 8.42 7.57 6.36 6.04

48 6.17 6.41 8.27 9.18 10S.53 10.71 10.80 9.89 8.44 7.51 6.23 5.86

50 5.98 6.30 8.24 9.24 10.68 10.91 10.99 10.00 8.46 7.45 6.100 5.65
 2. Hargreave's Class A Pan Evaporation Method

ETo is related to pan evaporation (EP) by a constant Kc.

ETo = Kc * Ep
Determination of Ep can be determined by:
Experiment
Christiansen formula
Ep = 0.459R * Ct*Cw*Ch*Cs *Ce
Where: Ct = Coefficient for temperature
Ct = 0.393 +0.02796Tc+0.0001189Tc2
Tc= mean temperature, 0c
Cw = Coefficient for wind velocity
Cw= 0.708+0.0034w-0.0000038w2
w=mean wind velocity at 0.5m above the ground, km/day.
Ch= Coefficient for relative humidity.
Ch= 1.250-0.0087H-0.75*10-4H2 –0.85*10-8H4
H= mean percentage relative humidity at noon
Cs= Coefficient for percent of possible sunshine
Cs= 0.542+0.008S-0.78*10-4S2+0.62*10-6S3
S= mean sunshine percentage
Ce= Coefficient of elevation
Ce= 0.97+ 0.00984E
 3. FAO Pan Evaporation Method

Pans provide a measurement of the integrated effect of

radiation, wind, temperature and humidity on the evaporation
from an open water surface.
ETo = Kp Epan
 4.Penman Method
Use the principles of both energy budget and mass-transfer approaches to calculate potential
evapotranspiration.
(  H    E a )
ET 
(   )
0.143
E  0 . 002187 ( 160  u ) ( e  e ) 2
a 2 s a

where:
u2  u  
z
H  H a (1  r ) ( 0 .29 cos   0 .55 n / N )   Ta4 ( 0 .56  0.092 ea ) ( 0 .10  0 .9 n / N )

Where :  is the Stefan-Boltzman constant = 2.01 x 10-9 mm/day

H -heat budget of an area with crops w/c is the net radiation (mm) of evaporable water/day

ET - daily evaporation from free water surface in mm/day,

 -psychometric constant whose value is 0.49 mmHg/0C or 0.66 mb/0C,

 -slope of the saturated vapor pressure vs. temperature curve at mean air temperature

Ea-the drying power of air which includes wind velocity and saturation deficit and is estimated form the

relation
Temperature (oC) Saturation vapor pressure es Slope of plot between
MmHg mbar (1) and (2)

(1) (2) (3) (4)

0.0 4.58 6.11 0.30
5.0 6.54 8.72 0.45
7.5 7.78 10.37 0.54
10.0 9.21 12.28 0.60
12.5 10.87 14.49 0.71
15.0 12.79 17.05 0.80
17.5 15.00 20.00 0.95
20.0 17.54 23.38 1.05
22.5 20.44 27.95 1.24
25.0 23.76 31.67 1.40
27.5 27.54 36.71 1.61
30.0 31.81 42.42 1.85
32.5 36.68 48.89 2.07
35.0 42.81 57.07 2.35
37.5 48.36 64.46 2.62
40.0 55.32 73.14 2.95
42.5 62.18 84.23 3.25
45.0 71.20 94.91 3.66
Table. Mean daily maximum duration of bright sunshine hour N for different
month and Latitudes (Doorenbos & Pruitt, 1977)
N Lat Jan Feb March April May June July Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec
S Lat July Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb March April May June
50 8.5 10.1 11.8 13.6 15.4 16.3 15.9 14.5 12.7 10.8 9.1 8.1
48 8.8 10.2 11.8 13.8 15.2 16.0 15.6 14.3 12.6 10.9 9.3 8.3
46 9.1 10.4 11.9 13.5 14.9 15.7 15.4 14.2 12.6 10.9 9.5 8.7
44 9.3 10.5 11.9 13.4 14.7 15.4 15.2 14.0 12.6 11.0 9.7 8.9
42 9.4 10.6 11.9 13.4 14.6 15.2 14.9 13.9 12.9 11.1 9.8 9.1
40 9.6 10.7 11.9 13.3 14.4 15.0 14.7 13.7 12.5 11.2 10.0 9.3
35 10.1 11.0 11.9 13.1 14.0 14.5 14.3 13.5 12.4 11.3 10.3 9.8
30 10.4 11.1 12.0 12.9 13.6 14.0 13.9 13.2 12.4 11.5 10.6 10.2
25 10.7 11.3 12.0 12.7 13.3 13.7 13.5 13.0 12.3 11.6 10.9 10.6
20 10.0 11.5 12.0 12.6 13.1 13.3 13.2 12.8 12.3 11.7 11.2 10.9
15 11.3 11.6 12.0 12.5 12.8 13.0 12.9 12.6 12.2 11.8 11.4 11.2
10 11.6 11.8 12.0 12.3 12.6 12.7 12.6 12.4 12.1 11.8 11.6 11.5
5 11.8 11.9 12.0 12.2 12.3 12.4 12.3 12.3 12.1 12.0 11.9 11.8
0 12.1 12.1 12.1 12.1 12.1 12.1 12.1 12.1 12.1 12.1 12.1 12.1
 5. Thornthwaite Method

Thornthwaite (1948) developed an exponential relationship

b/n mean monthly temperature and mean monthly
consumptive.  10 Tm 
a

ET o  1 .62 R f  
 Te 
2 3
a  0 . 4923  0 . 01792 T e  0 . 0000771 T e  0 . 000000675 T e

12 1 .514
 Tm 
Te  
j l

 5


Where
 Te - the annual temperature efficiency index
 Rf - Reduction Factor
Reduction Factor Rf for ETo to be used in
Thornthwiate's equation.
Month
Latitude Jan Feb Mar April May June July Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec
0 0N 1.04 0.94 1.0 1.01 1.04 1.01 1.04 1.04 1.01 1.04 1.01 1.04
4
100N 1.00 0.91 1.0 1.03 1.08 1.06 1.08 1.07 1.02 1.02 0.98 0.99
3
200N 0.95 0.90 1.0 1.05 1.13 1.11 1.14 1.11 1.02 1.00 0.93 0.94
3
300N 0.90 0.87 1.0 1.08 1.18 1.17 1.20 1.14 1.03 0.98 0.89 0.88
3
400N 0.84 0.83 1.0 1.11 1.24 1.25 1.27 1.18 1.04 0.96 0.83 0.81
3
500N 0.74 0.78 1.0 1.15 1.33 1.36 1.37 1.25 1.00 0.92 0.76 0.70
 6. Penman Monteith Method

• Universally accepted method of estimating ETo

• Reference FAO 56 Paper
Developed the formula using important climatic
parameters such as:
Solar radiation,
Temperature,
Vapour pressure and
Wind velocity
 7. Enku method

• Developed by Temesgen Enku

Where;
ETo - the reference evapotranspiration (mmday-1);
Tmax – daily maximum temperature
n = 2.5, The coefficient, k, could be approximated
k=48*Tmm = 330 for combined wet and dry conditions,
k=73*Tmm = 1015 for dry seasons
k=38*Tmm_63 for wet seasons
Tmm- mean annual/seasonal maximum temperature
 The seasons were classified as wet season (June -September), Dry
season (October- January and Wet &Dry Season (February- May)
 Irrigation Requirements and Irrigation Efficiencies

Irrigation water requirement (IR)

IR= WR-(Peff + S+ GW)
Irrigation depth (d)
d (net) = As *D *(FC – PWP)*P, (m)
Where; As = Apparent specific gravity of soil
D = Effective root zone depth in (m)
FC = water content of soil at FC
PWP =Water content of soil at PWP
P = depletion factor

Gross irrigation requirement (GIR)

NIR
GIR 
Ep
 Irrigation Scheduling

A means of Predicting when to Irrigate and how much to Irrigate.

• How much water added ??
• How many times ?
As .D FC  PWP . P
I (days) 
ETcrop  peak 
Total amount of water diverted in to the command area is expressed as;
Where: q = Stream size (application rate)
lit/sec
t = Application time in sec
Ea = Application efficiency
10
V  q.t   As.D ( FC  PWP.P.A , m3 As = Apparent specific gravity
Ea D = Effective root zone depth, m
P = Depletion factor
A = Area of the command (field) in ha
 Irrigation performance indicators
We can classify based on different scenario:
Farmers point view
 Adequacy
 Reliability
 Equity
 Overall performance
Conventional set of performance indicators
 Internal performance indicator
 External performance indicator
Small and Svendsen (1992) identify four different types
of performance assessment:
 Operational : To monitor day-to-day activities
 Accountability: To assess responsibilities of mgt
 Intervention: To enhance performance
 Sustainability: To look at long-term effects
 Specific indicators for farmers view points

1. Adequacy
 It is the capacity of an irrigation system to meet
demands of farmers
2. Reliability
 It refers to the stability and liability of timing for
water deliveries
3. Equity
 It refers to the fairness of allocation among users, fixed
division systems are particularly effective in meeting
equity objectives based on a percentage share of available
water
4. Overall performance
 Conventional set of performance indicators

 Developed by Molden et al (1998)

 Can be grouped in to two based on the level of
comparison as internal and comparative or external
indicators.
I. Internal performance indicators
 indicators relate performance to management targets
such as timing, duration, and flow rate of water; area
irrigated; and cropping patterns
 Comparison of the project with it self
 A. Water Conveyance efficiency ( Ec)
 It measures the efficiency of water conveyance
system associated with the canal network, water
courses and field channels:

Ec = (Wf⧸Wd )*100

Where: Ec = water conveyance efficiency, %

Wf =Water delivered to the irrigated plot ( At the
field supply channel)
Wd = Water diverted from the source
 B. Water application Efficiency (Ea)

Ea = (WS⧸Wf ) *100
Where; Ea = application efficiency, %
Ws = water stored in the root zone of the plants.

Wf = Water delivered to the irrigated plot

Partial flume
 C. Water storage efficiency (Es)

Ws
Es  *100
Wn
where:

Es = Water storage efficiency , %

Ws = water stored in the rot zone of the plants.
Wn = Water needed in the root zone prior to irrigation
 D. Field Canal Efficiency (Ef)

It is the ratio between water received at the field inlet

and that received at the inlet of the block of fields
Wp
Eb f  *100
Wf

where : Ef = Field canal efficiency (%)

Wp = water received at the field inlet

Wf = water delivered to the field channel

 E. Distribution Efficiency (Ed)

 It is the uniformly of water applied to the field

along the irrigation run
 y
Ed 1  x100
 d
Where:
Ed = water distribution efficiency, %
d = Average depth of water penetration.
y = Average deviation from d
F. Water Use Efficiency
 It is the yield of the crop per unit volume of water used
 It may be expressed in Kg/ha.cm or q/ha.cm
G. Crop Water Use Efficiency
Is the ratio of the crop yield (Y) to the amount of water
consumptively used by the crop
H. Field Water Use Efficiency
It is the ratio of the crop yield (y) to the total water requirement
of crops including Cu losses and other needs.
I. Project Efficiency (Ep)
 It indicates the overall efficiency of the systems from the
head work to the final use by plants for Cu.
 The Overall project efficiency must be considered in order to
fix the amount of water required at the Diversion head work.
 Comparative performance indicators/ external

1. Irrigated agriculture performance indicators

 2.Water delivery performance indicators


• ARWS:
  An indicator to judge whether the amount of water
supplied (irrigation + rainfall) is sufficient to satisfy the crop
water demand or not.
-A measure of the adequacy of the water supply.
  𝐀𝐓𝐖𝐒 (𝒎𝟑 )
𝐀𝐑𝐖𝐒= 𝟑
∗ 𝟏𝟎𝟎
𝐀𝐧𝐧𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐂𝐖𝐑( 𝒎 )
 ARIS: a measure of the adequacy of the diverted irrigation
water to meet the irrigation demand.
 RIS value less than 1.0 depicts shortage,
 RIS greater than 1.0 indicates excess irrigation supply.
 RIS values near 1.0 are preferable than higher values for
purposes of saving water.
 3.Physical performance indicators
• Cropping
i.   intensity: is an indicator used to assess the degree to
which irrigated crops are grown in the command area. It is
determined as:

ii. Irrigation ratio: is an indicator used to evaluate as to what

portion of the irrigable area has been irrigated.

iii.Sustainability of irrigated land:is related to loss of irrigated

land as compared to the area initially irrigated when the system was
developed.
 Irrigation Period (IP)
• This is the number of days allowed to complete one
irrigation cycle in a given area.
• In irrigation scheduling, the irrigation period should be
less that the irrigation interval.
• This is because if the period is not smaller, before the
later parts of the area are to be irrigated, the earlier
irrigated areas will need fresh irrigation.
• At peak evapotranspiration (used in design), irrigation
interval should be equal to irrigation period.
• Generally IP < II
 Exercise -1

A Uniformity Check is taken by probing many

stations down the border. The depths of
penetration (cm) recorded were: 6.4, 6.5, 6.5,
6.3, 6.2, 6.0, 6.4, 6.0, 5.8, 5.7, 5.5, 4.5, 4.9.
Compute the Uniformity Coefficient.
Example 3.1 The base period, duty of water and area
under irrigation for various crops under a canal system are
given in the table below. If the losses in the reservoir and
head of canals are 15% and 25% respectively. determine the
reservoir capacity
Crop Wheat Sugar cane Cotton Rice V. table

Base period B (days) 120 320 180 120 120

Duty , D (ha/cumec) 1800 1600 1500 800 700

Area irrigated (ha) 15000 10,000 5000 7500 5000

Example 3.2: Use Blaney-Criddle method to calculate
consumptive use (PET) for rice crop grown from January to
March at latitude of 220 N from the following data taken
from a nearby observatory. Find the net irrigation demand
for rice using the given rainfall during crop period

Month January February March

Mean temperature 0C 12 16 24
Rainfall (mm) 8 20 16
Example 3.3: A crop has effective root zone of 120 cm prior to irrigation;
soil samples were taken from different depths to determine the moisture
status of the soil.
Depth of root zone (m) Weight soil sample (gm) Weight of oven dry soil (gm)
0 .00– 0.30 m 98.80 94.60
0.30 – 0.60 m 96.60 92.10
0.60 – 0.90 m 95.00 90.60
0.90 – 1.20 m 94.00 89.40

The water holding capacity of the soil at field capacity is 19.60 cm/meter. The
apparent specific gravity of the soil is 1.60. Determine the moisture content in
the root zone at different depths, total depth of water available in the root zone at
different depths, total depth of water available in the root zone and the soil
moisture deficit. Assuming that the peak rate of consumptive use
during the stage of the plant is 8mm/day.
Example 3.4: For calculating the water requirements
Given: Crop: Tomato, Growth stage: Initial, growth Kc for
initial stage: 0.45, ETo: 9 mm/day
⇒ ETC = KC * ETO = 0.45*9 = 4.05mm/day.
Month January February March April May June

ETO (mm/day) 4.0 5.0 5.8 6.3 6.8 7.1

•Duration of Growing period from sowing: 150days

•Planting date: 1 February (direct sowing)

Example 3.5: In a lysimeter, soil depth is 1.5 meters and volumetric
moisture at beginning of period is 35 percent. Effective precipitation for
rainfalls > 20 mm is 50 percent of the rainfalls and for rainfalls <20 mm
are 75 percent of the rainfalls. According to the table, determine
evapotranspiration in the growth period. In addition, determine crop
coefficient in the growth period using the equation.

Month Monthly Relative Rainfall Irrigation Drainage Volumetric

temperature (ᵒ C) Humidity (%) (mm) (mm) (mm) Moisture (%)
April 10 45 40 120 20 22
May 12 42 32 130 25 18
June 15 38 22 150 40 19
July 20 35 18 180 35 20
August 25 32 10 200 40 22
September 20 37 5 120 25 20
Example 3.6: A stream size of 150 lit /sec was released from
the diversion headwork to irrigate a land of area 1.8 hectares.
The stream size when measured at the delivery to the field
channels is 120lit/sec. The stream continued for 8hours. The
effective root zone depth is 1.80m. The application losses in the
field are estimated to be 440m3. The depth of water penetration
was 1.80m and 1.20m at the head and tail of the run
respectively. The available water holding capacity of the soil is
21cm/m and irrigation was done at 60% depletion of Am. Find
Ec, Ef, Ea, Es and Ed. The stream size delivered to the plot was
100 lit/sec
 Exercise-2
A stream of 130 liters per second was diverted from a
canal and 100 liter per second were delivered to the field.
An area of 1.6 ha was irrigated in 8 hours. The effective
depth of root zone was 1.7 m. The runoff loss in the field
was 420 m3. The depth of water penetration varied linearly
from 1.7 m at the head end of the field to 1.1 m at the tail
end. Available moisture holding capacity of the soil is
20cm/m. Determine the water conveyance efficiency,
water application efficiency, water storage efficiency and
water distribution efficiency. Irrigation was started at a
moisture extraction level of 50% of the available
moisture.
 Exercise-3
A 12-hectare field is to be irrigated with a sprinkler system.
The root zone depth is 0.9 m and the field capacity of the soil
is 28% while the permanent wilting point is 17% by weight.
The soil bulk density is 1.36 g/cm3 and the water application
efficiency is 70%. The soil is to be irrigated when 50% of the
available water has depleted. The peak evapotranspiration is
5.0 mm/day and the system is to be run for 10 hours in a day.
Determine:
(i) The net irrigation depth
(ii) Gross irrigation i.e. the depth of water to be pumped
(iii) Irrigation period
(iv) Area to be irrigated per day and
(v) The system capacity.
 CHAPTER FOUR

WATER APPLICTAION
TECHNIQUES