Water management

Evapo-transpiration (definitions)
a) Evaporation: The process by which water is changed from the liquid
or solid state into the gaseous state.

 b) Transpiration: The evaporation of water that pass through plant

tissue.
 
 c) Evapo-transpiration, ET: It is the sum of the amount of water
transpired by plants and that amount that is evaporated from soil.
 Water budget
Rain Transpiration

Evapo-transpiration

Irrigation Evaporation
Runoff
Root Zone
Water Storage

Below Root Drainage

Zone
Water Budget
 Input
o Rainfall
o Irrigation
 Output
o Transpiration
o Evaporation
o Runoff
o Drainage
 Water Storage
o Soil
Water budget

Soil storage  (rain  irrigation )  (evapo - transpirat ion)

 (runoff  drainage )
 Water management principles
 How much water to apply?
 When to irrigate?
How much?
 Weighing lysimeter
Direct estimate and precise of water supply
 “Ideal Situation”
 Soil water balance

Water supply
drainage
Lysimeters – Direct measurement of
Evapo-Transpiration
‫תמונה של ליזימטר שקילה‬
Measuring Crop ET
Inside view of weighing
lysimeter

1995 Soybean 3m
Crop
 How much water is require?
 Direct Estimate:
o lysimeters
 Indirect estimate: (ET0).
o Climate: Penman monteith
o Class A pan.
o “Crop Standard” – Water loss by grass (tall fescue) 8 – 15
in height. (direct measurement by a Lysimeter).
Direct Estimate: Evapo-transpiration
(ET0)
Evapo-transpiration from “Crop Standard”.
 Lysimeter

Implementation in the field

Water loss and climate

Indirect estimate:

Penman monteith Class A Pan

Estimating Crop Water Requirement
Crop water requirement can be estimated
from Class-A Evaporation Pan.

Size:
Diameter - 120.7 cm
Depth - 25 cm
Location: on a palette, in an open field
surrounded by short green grass.
Class A Pan

unpainted galvanized iron

Types of Evaporation Pans
A Comparison of Standard Open Pans

Pan Coefficient Dimensions Pan

0.7 (0.6 to 0.8) 1.2 m Diameter; 250 mm US Class A

Deep

0.9 ( 0.6 to 1.2) 900 mm Diameter; 900 Australian Pan

mm Deep. Large Pan:
1200 mm Diameter and
850 mm Deep
0.9 (Very Variable) 1.83 m Square British Tank
 Climate: Penman-Monteith Equation
Combination Approach
density, specific heat
of air
VPD

Net Radiation Mass Transfer

 Rn  G   (  a c pe ) / ra
E
     1  rst ra  
Slope of
Sat-vp curve
Psychrometric
Constant Canopy, atmospheric resistance
Brooks et al., eq. 3.23
Potential Evapo-transpiration (ET0)
ET0 = amount of water transpired in a unit time by a
short green crop, completely shading the ground surface,
of uniform height, and never short of water (Penman,
1948)

Equations like Penman’s ‘assume’ that the vegetated surface is

wet enough to be freely evaporating without biotically imposed
restriction. For this condition ET is the Potential
Evapotranspiration (ET0).

Dozier, 2003
 Factors that affect actual ET
 Weather parameters
 Crop Characteristics
 Management and Environmental
Weather Parameters
 Radiation
 Air temperature

 Humidity

 Wind speed
Crop factors
 Crop Type
o Variety of Crop
 Plant density
o Ground Cover
 Development Stage
 Crop Height
 Crop Rooting Depth
Management and Environmental Factors
 Soil type
o Land fertility
 Soil salinity
 Water quality (salinity)
 Plant health
o Disease and pest management
 Type irrigation system.
o Water management (frequency of water supply
and ct.)
o Irrigation efficiency
 Crop water
requirement
2
Evapo-transpiration and Crop
Coefficient
ETc crop Evapo-Transpiration

Penman referent crop ETo

Transpiration is related to the plant size
Crop coefficients, Kc
M aximum Crop
Crop K cini Kc mid K c end Height (h) (m)
Cabbage 1.05 0.95 0.4
Carrots 1.05 0.95 0.3
Onions
- dry 1.05 0.75 0.4
- green 1 1 0.3
- seed 1.05 0.8 0.5
Sweet Melons 1.05 0.75 0.4
Watermelon 0.4 1 0.75 0.4
d. Roots and 0.5 1.1 0.95
Tubers

RHmin » 45%, u2 » 2 m/s for use with the FAO Penman-Monteith ETo(
Sorghum crop coefficient

Booting heading soft/hard dough

Kc 0 0.05 0.1 0.2 0.4 0.7 0.9 1 0.8

 Sorghum crop coefficient
Penman evaporation (example) and water
requirement of sorghum

Kc 0 0.05 0.1 0.2 0.4 0.7 0.9 1 0.8

ETo mm/day 5.7 5.7 5.7 5.7 5.5 5.4 5.3 4.0
ETc mm/day 0.3 .6 1.2 2.3 3.85 4.9 5.3 3.2
1mm=10m3/ha
0.1 0.3 0.5 0.8 0.9 1.1 0.8 Kc
 med. variety late variety
Early variety
Kc

3- to adapt the variety (early –med.- late)

Skipping row

Between rows
and inside
 Skipping 1 row Full rows
skipping 2 rows
Kc

3- to adapt the no. planted rows

1m 1m

12.5
25 cm cm
 Plant stand /ha

Full Skipping 1 Skipping

planting row 2 rows
40.000 26400 20.000 4 plants/m

50.000 33.000 25.000 5 plants/m

60.000 40.000 30.000 6 plants/m

70.000 46.200 35.000 7 plants/m

80.000 53.000 40.000 8 plants/m

Sorghum – Water management

Kc 0 0.05 0.1 0.2 0.4 0.7 0.9 1 0.8

ET0 mm/day 5.7 5.7 5.7 5.7 5.5 5.4 5.3 4.0
ETc mm/day 0.3 .6 1.2 2.3 3.85 4.9 5.3 3.2
[Link] 8 10 10 20 25 20 15 15
ETc mm/phase 2.4 6 12 46 96 98 79.5 48
ETc m3/phase 24 60 120 460 960 980 795 480
4800 m3/ha
Soil Available water
(Storage)
What is soil?
 Mineral and organic material that serves as a
natural medium for the growth of the plants.
 Kind of bio-filter:
o Recycling system for nutrients, wastes...
o Water purification.
Soil made of
 Inorganic component
o Called minerals
o They come from

weathering of bedrock
or and material that is
washed or blown in.
 Organic component
o This comes from material
living in or on the soil.
Soils originating from different
parent materials
‫רנדזינה‬
‫‪‬‬ ‫‪:‬סלע גיר רך‪ ,‬קרטון וחוור‬
‫קרקעות רנדזינות‬
‫פרוטו‪-‬גרומוסולים בזלתיות‬
‫‪‬‬ ‫‪:‬סלע בזלת‬
‫‪o‬‬ ‫קרקעות חומות בזלתיות‬
Soil provide
 Physical support - Anchorage
H 2O
 Water supply Transpiration

 Mineral (nutrients) supply

 Media for negative and
positive micro-organism

deep percolation

Cappilary rise

Ground water
Soil main properties
 Water Holding Capacity (permeability)
 Nutrient-Holding Capacity
 Aeration ( porosity)
 pH
Four Principal Components of Soil

Organic
5%
Air
25%

Mineral
45%
Water
25%

Air Water Mineral Organic

Particles composition of soil mineral

FINE SAND

SILT

CLAY
.
Relative size of : Sand, Silt and Clay
Particle diameter
Soil Texture
 The proportionate quantity of sand, silt and clay in
the mineral fraction of a soil.
 There are 12 textural classes which can be seen in
the next slide.
Soil water status
 Soil saturated - all pores are water-filled.

 Field Capacity - the most loosely held

water in the largest pores drained out.

 Wilting point - only the smallest pores

contain water
Soil water status
Saturated:
Saturated Soil water potential is 0 bar

F.C.: Soil water potential is 1/3 bar

Wilting:
Wilting Soil water potential is 15 bar
Analyze soil water potential
Pressure plate method
for potentials from
1 bar to 15 bars
Available water in soil

-(-0.3m)
Effect of soil texture on water
Soil water storage in every cm in depth

mm of water
% Field % Wiling % Total water available in every mm of water
capacity point available cm to 1m depth
Sand 8 4 4 0.4 40
Sandy loam 18 7 11 1.1 110
Laom 28 12 16 1.6 160
Silt loam 34 15 19 1.9 190
Clay loam 36 17 19 1.9 190
Clay 38 21 17 1.7 170
Root Depth
Crop Depth (m)

Banana 0.6
Citrus 1.2

Corn 0.8

Tomato 1.2

Cotton 1.5

Melon 1.2
Root depth and soil water depletion
fraction for no stress (p)
Maximum Root Depletion Fraction
2
1
Depth (for ET  5 mm/day)
Crop (m) p
a. Small Vegetables
Broccoli 0.4-0.6 0.45
Brussel Sprouts 0.4-0.6 0.45
Cabbage 0.5-0.8 0.45
Carrots 0.5-1.0 0.35
Cauliflower 0.4-0.7 0.45
Celery 0.3-0.5 0.2
Garlic 0.3-0.5 0.3
Lettuce 0.3-0.5 0.3
Irrigation rate of sprinkler

The precipitation of a sprinkler irrigation system

(Pr) is the “rainfall rate of the sprinkler water
supply”.

q - sprinkler rate in l/h

S - Spacing between the sprinkler in m
q
Pr 
sl  sw
 Precipitation Rate
q
Pr 
sl  sw
Example - sprinkler

sprinkler one nozzle 4.5 mm pressure - 2.5

atmosphere
q - 1,290 l/h (1.29 m3/h),
s - 12 x 9 m (108 m2),

1,290
Pr   11 .94mm / h  12mm / h
108