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Chapter 2
Water Requirement Of
Crops
(Crop – Water Requirement)

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Learning Objectives

 At the end of this chapter the students will be able to:

 Define water requirement of crops and other terms
associated with it.
 Describe evaporation, consumptive use and evapo-
transpiration.
 List the methods of estimating evapo-transpiration.
 Compute the crop water requirement by applying different
methods.
 Define irrigation requirement and other terms related with it.
 Define duty and delta of a crop.
 Compute irrigation requirement, delta and duty of a crop.
 Define irrigation efficiencies.
 Compute the various types of irrigation efficiencies.

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Introduction

● Water requirement of crops

● Quantity of water required by a crop or diversified
pattern of crop in a given period of time for its normal
growth under field conditions at a place.
● The total quantity of water required is applied in a
number of watering distributed over the entire growth
period.
● Watering is done at more or less fixed interval
throughout the growth period.
● Can be computed by applying two concepts
1. Consumptive use concept 2. Delta concept
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Cont…

 Water requirement of crops comprises

 the water lost as evaporation from the crop field,
 water transpired by plants
 water metabolically used by the crop plants,
 water lost during application (unavoidable losses) and
 the water used for special operations such as land preparation,
transplanting, salt reaching and so on.
 WR is expressed as the surface depth of water in millimeters or
centimeters.
 Different crops have different water requirements and the same crop
may have different water requirements at different places of the same
country, depending up on the climate, type of soil, method of cultivation
& rainfall etc.

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Cont…

 Water requirement may be formulated from the demand side

mathematically as,
WR  E  T  IP  Wm  Wu  Ws
WR  ET  Wm  Wu  Ws
WR  Cu  Wu  Ws
Where WR = Water requirement of crop, cm or mm
E = Evaporation from crop field, cm or mm
T = Transpiration by Crop Plant, cm or mm
IP = Intercepted Precipitation by the crop that gets evaporated, cm or mm
Wm = Water Metabolically used by crop plants in cm or mm
Wu = Unavoidable losses during application, cm or mm
Ws = Water applied for special operation, cm or mm.
ET = Evapotranspiration from crop field, cm or mm.
Cu = Consumptive use of water by the crop, cm or mm.

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Cont…

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Cont…

 Water requirement may be formulated from the considering

the source as,
WR  P  GIR  SW  GW  RO  DP 
WR  ER  GIR  SW  GW
 Where, P = Precipitation, cm or mm
 GIR = Gross irrigation requirement of crop, cm or mm
 SW = Soil water contribution, cm or mm.
 GW = Ground water contribution (Usually from shallow water
table), cm or mm.
 RO = Run-off water, cm or mm.
 DP = Deep percolation, cm or mm.
 ER = Effective rainfall (effective precipitation) cm or mm.

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Cont…

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Defnitions
Evaporation
 Evaporation is the process during which a liquid changes in
to gas.
Transpiration
 Transpiration is the process by which water vapor leaves the
living plant body and enters the atmosphere.
Evapotranspiration (ET)/ Consumptive Use (CU)
 It is the total amount of water used by the plant in transpiration,
building of plant tissues etc and evaporation from adjacent soils or
from plant leaves, in any specified time

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Classification of CU

Daily consumptive use

 The amount of water consumptively used during 24 hour
period is called the daily consumptive use.
 It is used for formulating the cropping pattern and to decide
the water supply from sources during different periods of
cropping season.
Peak Period Consumptive Use
 The average daily water use rate during a few days (usually
6 to 10 days) of highest consumptive use in a season.
 This is the design rate used in planning an irrigation system.

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Cont..
Maximum/peak rates of soil moisture use by crops
under different climatic conditions

  Peak rate of soil moisture

Climatic conditions removal or use in mm/day

Cool, humid 3
Cool, dry 4
Moderate, humid 4
Moderate, dry 5
Hot, humid 5
Hot, dry 8

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Cont…

Seasonal Consumptive Use

 The amount of water consumptively used by a crop during
the entire growing season or crop period
 It is essential to evaluate and decide the seasonal water
supply to a command area of an irrigation project.

Actual Crop Evapotranspiration, ET crop

 The rate of evapotranspiration by a particular crop in a given
period under prevailing soil, water and atmospheric
conditions.

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Cont…
 It involves the use of crop factor called crop
coefficient
 It is computed from reference crop ET (ETO)
 The ET crop varies under
 different soil water and atmospheric conditions
 different stages of crop growth
 geographical locations and
 periods of the year.

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Cont…
Reference Crop Evapotranspiration, ETo
 It is defined as the rate of evapotranspiration from a large
area covered by green grass which grows actively,
completely shades the ground and which is not short of
water.
 The rate of water which evapo-transpirates depends on the
mainly on the climate.
 The highest value of ETo : hot, dry, sunny and windy
 The lowest values of ETo : cool, humid and cloudy with little
or no wind.

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Cont…

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Cont…

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Factors Affecting Evapotranspiration

 Climatic factor
Includes precipitation, solar radiation, temperature,
wind, relative humidity and adjective heat.
 Growing season
 Crop characteristic
 Soil characteristic
 Cultural factors

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Calculation of crop water requirements

 The basic formula for the calculation reads as follows:

ETcrop = Kc x ETo
Where:
ETcrop = the water requirement of a given crop in mm per
unit of time e.g.
mm/day, mm/month or mm/season.
Kc = the "crop factor"
ETo = the "reference crop evapotranspiration" in mm per unit
of time e.g.
mm/day, mm/month or mm/season

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Calculation of crop water requirements

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Methods of Estimating Reference Evapotranspiration

 Direct Methods/Lysimeter
 Pan Evaporimeter Method
 Empirical Methods
 Penman-Monteith equation
 Radiation methods (ETo = C W Rs)
 Blaney-Criddle Method
 Hargreaves equation

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Pan evaporation method
ETo can be obtained by using evaporation rates which are
directly measured with an evaporation pan.
Evaporation pan/Evaporimeter
It is a shallow pan, containing water which is exposed to
the evaporative influence of the climate.
The standard pan is the Class A Pan of the US Weather
Bureau is widely used.
 Diameter of 1.21 m,
 Depth of 25 cm
 It is placed 15 cm above the ground

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Cont…

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Cont…

 The principle of obtaining evaporation rates from

the pan is as follows:
 The pan is installed in the field 15 cm above the
ground;
 The pan is filled with water 5 cm below the rim;
 The water is allowed to evaporate during a certain
period of time (usually 24 hours). For example, each
morning at 7.00 AM a measurement is taken.
Rainfall, if any, is measured simultaneously;

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Cont…

 After 24 hours, the water depth is measured again;

 The amount of water which has evaporated in a given
time unit is equal to the difference between the two
measured water depths. This is the pan evaporation rate:
Epan (mm/24 hours).
 The readings taken from the pan (Epan) do not give ETo
directly, but have to be multiplied by a "Pan Coefficient"
(Kpan).
ETo = Epan x Kpan
 For the Class A evaporation pan, Kpan varies between 0.35
and 0.85, with an average of 0.70.

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Empirical Methods

The Blaney-Criddle Method: Empirical Method

 This method is straightforward and requires only data on
mean daily temperatures. Also daily percentage of annual
daytime hours is required.
 The Blaney-Criddle formula is:
ETo = p(0.46Tmean + 8)
Where:
ETo = reference crop evapotranspiration (mm/day)
Tmean = mean daily temperature (° C)
p = mean daily percentage of annual daytime hours.

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Cont…

 The Blaney-Criddle Method always refers to mean monthly

values, both for the temperature and the ETo.
 If in a local meteorological station the daily minimum and
maximum temperatures are measured, the mean daily
temperature is calculated as follows:

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Indicative values of ETo

Climatic Mean daily temperature

zone
15° 15-25°C 25°

Desert/arid 4-6 7-8 9-10

Semi-arid 4-5 6-7 8-9

Sub-humid 3-4 5-6 7-8

Humid 1-2 3-4 5-6

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Crop Factor - Kc

• To obtain the crop water requirement Etcrop, the reference

crop evapotranspiration, ETo, must be multiplied by the crop
factor, Kc.
• The crop factor introduces the crop characteristics in to the
equation.
 The crop factor (or "crop coefficient") varies according to the
growth stage of the crop. There are four growth stages to
distinguish:
 the initial stage: when the crop uses little water;
 the crop development stage, when the water consumption increases;
 the mid-season stage, when water consumption reaches a peak;
 the late-season stage, when the maturing crop once again requires less
water.
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Crop Factor - Kc

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Methods of Estimating Crop Evapotranspiration

Example 1

Crop to be grown: Sorghum

 length of total growing season: 120 days (sum of all 4 crop stages according to Table 10)
 ETo: average of 6.0 mm/day over the total growing season (from measurement, calculation or Table 9)

Crop water Requirement:

ET crop = kc x Eto

ET crop = 0.78 x 6 = 4.68 mm per day

ET crop = 4.68 x 120 days = approx. 560 mm per total growing season

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Irrigation Water Requirement

Irrigation Requirement
 Irrigation requirement of a crop refers to the amount of water
needed to applied or supplied by irrigation in order to meet
the water requirement of the crop for optimum growth and
yield.
Consumptive Irrigation Requirements (C.I.R)
 It is the amount of irrigation water required in order to meet
the evapotranspiration needs of the crops during its full
growth.
C.I.R = Cu - Re

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Irrigation Water Requirement

Net Irrigation Requirement (NIR)

 It is the amount of irrigation water required in order
to meet the evapotranspiration needs of the crops
as well as other needs such as leaching etc.

NIR = Cu -Re + water required to fulfill other needs

such as leaching+ land preparation etc

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Irrigation Water Requirement

Field irrigation requirement (FIR)

 Field irrigation requirement (FIR) is the amount of water to
be applied to the field .
 It is equal to the net irrigation requirement plus the amount
of applied water lost as surface runoff , evaporation an deep
percolation in the field.
FIR= NIR + water application losses
NIR
FIR 
a
Where is water application efficiency.

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Irrigation Water Requirement

Gross irrigation requirement, GIR

 Gross irrigation requirement, GIR is the quantity of water
required at the head of the canal.
 The quantity of water required at the head of the canal is
greater than the field irrigation requirement because there
are always some transit/ conveyance losses.
GIR  FIR  Conveyancelosses
FIR
GIR 
c

Where  c is water conveyance efficiency

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Duty of Water (D), Base Period and Delta of Crops

Crop period
 The time period that elapses from the instant of its sowing to
the instant of its harvesting is called the crop-period.
Duty of water
 Duty of water is its capacity to irrigate land.
 It is the relation between the area of the land irrigated and
the quantity of water required.
 It is usually defined as the area of land which can be
irrigated if one cumec of water is applied to the land
continuously for the entire base period of the crop.
 It is expressed in hectares/cumecs.

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Cont…

Base period (B)

 The base period is the period between the first watering and
the last watering.
 It is slightly different from the crop period
Delta ()
 Delta () is defined as the total depth of water required by a
crop during the entire base period.
 If the entire quantity of applied water were spread uniformly
on the land surface, the depth of water would have been
equal to delta.

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Cont…

Computation of Delta of a Crop

Delta (in m) of any crop can be determined by
dividing the total quantity of water (in ha-m)
required by the crop by the area of the land (in
ha)
Total Quantity of Water (ha  m)

Total Area of Land (ha)

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Relation between duty, base period and delta

 If Duty is expressed in ha/cumecs, the total quantity

of water used in the base period of B days is equal
to that obtained by a continuous flow of 1 cumec for
B days.
Quantity of water = 1x B x 24 x 60 x 60 m3 (Eq 1)
 If delta () is the total depth of water in meters
supplied to the land of D hectares, the quantity of
water is also given by
Quantity of water = (D x 104)  m3 (Eq 2)

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Cont…

Equating the quantites of water or volumes given by Eqs. (1)

and (2),
D x 104 x A = 1 x B x 24 x 60 x 60
8.64 B
D

8.64 B

D
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Different Forms of Duty

Flow duty
 The duty of water in hectares/cumec as defined above is
convenient in the case of flow irrigation from canals and is
usually called flow duty.
 If the flow duty and the area of land to be irrigated are
known, the required discharge in the canal can be
determined.

Area, ha
Disch arg e, Q 
Duty, ha / cumec
The discharge is in cumecs.

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Cont…

Quantity of Duty
 For tank/dam/pond irrigation, the duty is usually expressed
as the total area of land which can be irrigated per million m3
of water stored in the tank/reserviour.
 If the quantity duty in ha/Mm3 and the area to be irrigated are
known, the volume of water to be stored in the tank can be
determined. Thus
Area , ha
3
Volume of water in Mm 
Duty , ha / Mm 3

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Cont…

Duty in the form of total depth (or delta)

 Duty can also be expressed in terms of the total depth (i.e.
delta) of water required for a crop.
 It is another form of the quantity duty because the total
depth, delta is equal to the volume divided by the area of
land. Thus
Volume (ha  m)
Delta 
Area, ha

The delta is in metres

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Difference between Delta and Consumptive use

 The consumptive use of water for a crop is the water actually used by it
in its metabolism and evapotranspiration.
 Delta is the quantity of water actually supplied to the crop.
 Delta includes not only the consumptive use of water for a crop but also
the water lost by evaporation and seepage from canals and by deep
percolation in the field.
 Hence, delta is generally greater than the consumptive use.
 However, if suitable values of water application efficiency and the
conveyance efficiency are taken into account, the water requirements by
the consumptive use concept may approach the value of delta.
 The consumptive use concept is more scientific and rational than the
delta concept which is essentially empirical. The modern trend is to use
the consumptive use concept for the determination of water
requirements of crops and the capacity of canals.

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Complete specifications of duty

 While stating the duty, it is essential to specify the following

two parameters along with duty because without these two
parameters, the term duty does not convey the complete
idea.
1. Base of duty 2. Place of measurement of duty

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Complete specifications of duty

1. Base of duty:
 The base of duty of water is the period to which the stated
duty applies.
 When the base of duty is not specified, it generally means
the average duty for the entire base period.
 Sometimes duty is expressed for each watering. In that
case, it is necessary to specify the base during which
watering is done.
 The duty for each watering gives the actual rate at which
water is applied.

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Cont…

2. Place of measurement of duty

 The duty of water varies from the head regulator to the canal
outlet because of various losses. Thus the duty of water at
the head of the main canal is different from that on the field.
The duty of water goes on increasing as the water flows
from the head to the tail of the canal system.
 To illustrate the point, let us assume that the duty at the
head of the main canal is 1000 ha/cumecs and there are
30% losses from the head of the main canal to the field.
Thus 1 cumec of water released at the head will become
0.70 cumecs on reaching the field.

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Cont…

 The remaining 0·3 cumecs would be lost in the transit and

the field by evaporation and percolation.
 Because 0.70 cumecs will be used for irrigating 1000 ha of
land, the duty at field is 1000/0.70 = 1429 ha/cumecs.
 It shows that the duty of water increases as the water flows
from the head of the canal system to the field.
 Hence, it is necessary to specify the place to which the duty
applies. If the place is not mentioned, it generally means the
duty on the field.

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Factors affecting Duty

 Duty of water depends upon the following factors.

 In general, the smaller the losses, the greater is duty
because one cumec of water will be able to irrigate
larger area.
1. Type of soil
 The duty of water depends upon the type of soil.
 Coarse-grained soils, the percolation losses are high,
and, therefore, duty is low.
 Fine-grained soils, the losses are small and duty is
high.

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Factors Affecting Duty

2. Type of crop
 Different crops require varying quantities of water. Therefore, duty
varies from crop to crop.
 Duty is low for crops which required a large quantity of water and
vice versa.
3. Structure of soil
 The soil structure affects the plant growth to a very large extent.
 A good structure is called good tilth of soil.
 In a soil with good structure, evaporation losses from the soil
surface are relatively less and hence duty is high.
 Moreover, a soil with good structure becomes properly aerated
because of large voids and the yield of crop is increased,
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Factors Affecting Duty

4. Slope of ground
 The duty of water depends upon the slope of the ground.
 If the slope is relatively steep, the lower portions of the field
get more water whereas the higher portions may remain
drier.
 On the other hand, in the case of flat ground, the water does
not reach the extreme end of the field and that portion may
remain dry.
 In order to properly irrigate the crop, more water is required
and the duty is decreased in both cases.
 For a properly prepared field, duty is high.

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Factors Affecting Duty

5. Climatic conditions
 Evaporation losses are more if the temperature and wind velocity
are high and, therefore, duty is decreased.
 On the other hand, rainfall during the base period reduces the
irrigation requirements and hence the duty is increased.
6. Method of cultivation
 If the land is properly ploughed upto the required root-zone depth
and made quite loose before sowing of the crops, the water
retention capacity of the soil is increased and, therefore, the
number of watering is reduced and duty is increased.
 On the other hand, if the land is not properly ploughed and the
method of cultivation is faulty and less efficient, duty is decreased.
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Factors Affecting Duty

7. System of irrigation
 The system of irrigation may be
 (i) perennial or non-perennial,
 (ii) canal irrigation or tank irrigation,
 (iii) flow irrigation or lift irrigation.
 Duty is different for different systems.
(i) Perennial or non-perennial
 In this system the water is applied to the land throughout the
growth period, whereas in the non-perennial system, the water is
applied only during the flood season.
 The non­perennial system is also known as inundation system ).

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Factors Affecting Duty

 In the perennial system. the soil remains continuously wet

and hence less quantity of water is required for initial wetting
of soil and therefore duty is high.
 On the other hand, in the inundation system, there is
wasteful use of water and therefore duty is low.
(ii) canal irrigation or tank irrigation
 In the case of tank irrigation, duty is high because the
commanded area is close to the tank and the transmission
losses are less.
 On the other hand, in the case of canal irrigation (or flow
irrigation), the transmission losses are high and duty is low.
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Factors Affecting Duty

(iii) Flow irrigation or lift irrigation

 In the case of lift irrigation (or well irrigation).duty is high
because the commanded area is close to the well,
 In the case of flow irrigation, duty is low.
 Moreover, the cultivator uses the water in the lift irrigation
more economically as it is expensive.

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Factors Affecting Duty

8. Method of application of water

 The method of irrigation (or the mode of application of
water) affects the duty of water because water application
efficiency is different for different methods.
 Drip irrigation method is the most efficient method and duty
is very high. In the case of the sprinkler method of irrigation,
duty is also high because seepage losses are reduced.
 On the other hand, in the methods of surface irrigation, duty
is low. However, in the case of the furrow method of surface
irrigation, duty is relatively high because water is not applied
to the entire land and, therefore, the losses are small.
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Factors Affecting Duty

9. Age and frequency of cultivation

 Duty increases with the age of cultivation. In the initial
stages of cultivation, the land is not properly leveled and
hence more than the required quantity of water is applied
and therefore duty is low. However, the slope and condition
of land improve with age of the fields and duty is increased.
 Frequent cultivation of land reduces the loss of moisture
through weeds and evaporation from soil and hence duty is
increased.
 On the other hand, if cultivation is done after a long interval,
duty is decreased.

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Factors Affecting Duty

10. Condition, type and location of the canal
 If the canal is in good condition and properly maintained, the
duty is more compared to that in the canal with indifferent
condition and poor maintenance.
 The duty is higher for the lined canals as compared to that
for the unlined canals. Even in unlined canals, duty is higher
when the soil is non-alluvial than when the soils is' alluvial.
 If the canal is located in the middle of the commanded area,
the length of the distributaries and water courses is small
and, therefore, losses are small and duty is high.
 On the other hand, if the canal is located away from the
commanded area, duty is low.
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Factors Affecting Duty

11. Method of assessment of water
 If the assessment of water and charges of irrigation water
are on the volumetric basis, the cultivators use the water
more carefully and the wastage is less, and, therefore, duty
is high.
 On the other hand, if the assessment is based on a flat rate
based on the area under cultivation, the wastage is more
and duty is less.
12. Skill of cultivators
 If the cultivators have skill and proper training, they make
judicious use of water and therefore duty is high.

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Factors Affecting Duty

13. Base period

 In general, when the base period of a crop is long, more
water is required and duty is low.
 However, the decrease in duty with an increase in the base
period is not proportional.
14. Salt content of soil
 If the soil contains harmful salts and alkalis, water has to be
applied liberally/ abundantly /freely so that these salts and
alkalis are leached off. This reduces the duty of water.

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Methods for Improvement of Duty

 Duty of water may be improved by counter-acting all the
factors that decrease it. In general, duty is improved by
decreasing the various losses.
 The following methods are commonly used In general,
 Properly plowing and leveling of the land
 The land should be regularly cultivated
 The alignment of the canal in sandy soils or in fissured
rocks should be avoided
 As far as possible, the canal should be located in the
middle of the commanded area
 The canal should be lined to reduce the losses

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Methods for Improvement of Duty

 Efficient methods of irrigation should be adopted
 Volumetric assessment of irrigation water should be
introduced
 The cultivators should be trained
 Land should be consolidated
 Salty conditions should be avoided
 Avoid use of very big canal
 Sufficient water should be supplied as and when needed.
 canal administrative staff should be properly educated and
trained

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Importance of Duty

 It helps us in designing an efficient canal irrigation system

 Knowing the total available water at the head of main canal,
and the overall duty for all crops required to be irrigated in
different seasons of the year the area which can be irrigated
can be worked out
 Inversely, if we know the crop area required to be irrigated
and their duties, we can workout the discharge required for
designing canal.

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Irrigation Efficiencies
 Efficiency is the ratio of the water out put to the water input.
 The ratio of the amount of water available (output) to the
amount of water supplied (input) is known as Irrigation
Efficiency. It is expressed in percentage.
(i) Efficiency of water conveyance
 It is the ratio of the amount of water applied to the land to the
amount of water supplied from the reservoir. It is the ratio of
the water delivered into the fields from the outlet point of the
channel, to the water entering into the channel at its starting
point.   Quantity of water of delivered into the fields from the outlet x100
c
Quantity of water diverted from the offtake
FIR
c  x100
GIR
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(ii) Efficiency of water- application

It is the ratio of the water stored in root zone of

plants to the water applied to the land.

Water stored in the root zone

a  x100
Water applied to the field

NIR
a  x100
FIR
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(iii) Efficiency of Water Storage

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

Water stored in the root zone during irrigation

a  x100
Water needed in the root zone prior to irrigation

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(vi) Uniformity Coefficient or Water Distribution Efficiency

 It is used to measure the effectiveness of irrigation.

 The water distribution efficiency represents the extent to which the
water has penetrated to a uniform depth, throughout the field.
When the water has penetrated uniformly throughout the field, the
deviation from the mean depth is zero and water distribution
efficiency is 1.0. d
 
 d  1  
 D
 Where
d  Water distribution efficiency
D = Mean depth of water stored during irrigation
d = Average of the absolute values of deviations from the
mean y1  D  y 2  D  y 3  D  ...
d
n
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Project Efficiency, Ep

Project Efficiency (Ep)

It indicates the overall efficiency of the systems
from the headwork to the final use by plants for Cu.
This shows how efficiently the water source used
in crop production.
The Overall project efficiency must be considered
in order to fix the amount of water required at the
Diversion headwork.
It is obtained by multiplying all the efficiencies
considered in the project.

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