Islamic Emirates Of Afghanistan

Ministry Of Higher Education

Paktia University
Engineering Faculty
Civil Department

Water requirement of crops and soil-water

relationship

Prepared By: Arsala Khan Liwal

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Contents:
Introduction
Factors Affecting The Water Requirement
Definition Of Important Terms
Base, Delta And Duty
 Factors Affecting Duty
Methods Of Improving Duty
Types Of Soil
Types Of Soil Water
Consumptive Use Of Water
Methods Of Determining Consumptive Use
Frequency Of Irrigation
Standard Of Irrigation Water
Irrigation Efficiency 2
 introduction
For proper growth and maturity of the crops, water is of vital
importance throughout the crop period.
The water requirement may vary from crop to crop, from soil to soil
and from period to period.
The irrigation engineer should be acquainted with the type of soil,
characteristics of soil moisture, quality of irrigation water, frequency
of irrigation … for the proper implementation of irrigation system.

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 Factors affecting the water requirement
a) Water table
b) Climate
c) Ground slope
d) Intensity of irrigation
e) Type of soil
f) Method of application of water
g) Method of ploughing

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 Definition of important terms
1. Gross command area (G.C.A): the whole area enclosed between an imaginary
boundary line which can be included in an irrigation project for supplying
water to agricultural land by the network of canals is known as gross
command area( G.C.A).
• It include both culturable and unculturable areas.

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 Definition of important terms
2. Unculturable area: the area where the agriculture cannot be done and crops
cannot be grown is known as unculturable area.
• The marshy land, barren lands, lakes, pounds, forests, village,… are considered
as unculturable area.
3. Culturable: the area where the agriculture can be done satisfactory is known as
culturable area.
4. Culturable command area (C.C.A): the total area within an irrigation project
where the cultivation can be done and crops can be grown is known as culturable
command area( C.C.A). It can be divided into two categories.
a) Culturable cultivated area :it is the area within C.C.A. where the cultivation
has been actually done at present.
b) Culturable uncultivated area: it is the area within the C.C.A. where cultivation
is possible but it is not being cultivated at present due to some reasons.
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 Definition of important terms
5. Intensity of irrigation: the intensity of irrigation may be defined as a ratio of
cultivated land for a particular crops to the total culturable command area.
• It is express as a percentage of C.C.A.
• Area to be irrigated = C.C.A x intensity of irrigation.
6. Crop ratio: it is defined as the ratio of the areas of the two main crop seasons.
7. Crop season: the period during which some particular types of crops can be
grown every year on the same land is known as crop season.
a) Kharif season: this season from June to October.
• The crops are sown in the very beginning of monsoon and harvested at the end
of autumn .
• The major Kharif crops are—Rice, Millet, Maize, Jute, Groundnut,…
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 Definition of important terms
Cont…
b) Rabi season: This season range from October to March.
• The crops are sown in the very beginning of winter and harvested at the end of
spring.
• The major rabi crops are—wheat, gram, mustard, rapeseed, linseed, pulses,
onion,…
Again there are several crops which are not included in Kharif and Rabi as they
require more time and they cover both the main seasons.
• As for example cotton require eight months to mature and sugarcane required
about whole year to mature. Hence they are designed as –
I. Catton—eight months crop.
II. Sugarcane—perennial crop.
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 Definition of important terms
8. Cash crop: the crops which are cultivated by the farmers to sell in the market
to meet their current financial requirements are known as cash crops.
• The crops like vegetables, fruits,… are considered as cash crops.
9. Crop rotation: the process of changing the type of crop for the cultivation on
the same land is known as crop rotation.
• It is found by experiment that if the principle of crop rotation is practiced, the
fertility of the soil can be restored.
few crop rotation possible are:
I. Rice—Gram.
II. Wheat—Millet—Gram.
III. Rice—Gram—Wheat.
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 Definition of important terms
10. Crop period: the crop period is defined as the total period from the time of
sowing a crop to the time of harvesting it.
11. Overlap allowance: sometimes a crop of one season may overlap the next
crop season by a few days more which it requires to mature.
• During this period water must be supplied for the irrigation of crop, the extra
water demand should be considered in the canals design.
12. Time factor:

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 Definition of important terms
13. Capacity factor: the ratio of the average discharge to the maximum discharge
(design discharge) is known as capacity factor.
14. Number of watering: the total depth of water required by a crop is not supplied
at one time. But, is supplied over the base period by stages depending upon the
requirement.
• The initial watering which is done on the land to provide moisture to the soil just
before sowing any crop is knowing as paleo or paleva.
• The first watering is done when the crop has grown to about three centimeters,
This watering is known as Kor watering and the period is known as Kor period.
• The number of watering depends on the type of soil, base period, soil condition,
climatic condition…
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 Definition of important terms
15. Cumec day: the quantity of water flowing continuously for one day at the
rate of one cumec is known as cumec-day.
1 cumec-day = 8.64 hectare-meter
16. Arid region: the area where the rainfall is very scantly and occurs
irregularly and where the agriculture is not at all possible is known as arid
region.

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 Base, Delta And Duty
Base: the base is defined as the period from the first to the last watering of the
crop just before its maturity.
• It is also known as base period and denoted by ‘B’.

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 BASE, DELTA AND DUTY
Delta: if the total amount of water supplied to the crop (from first to last
watering) is stored on the land without any loss, then there will be a thick layer
of water standing on that land .
• This depth of water layer is known as delta for the crop.

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 BASE, DELTA AND DUTY
Duty: the duty of water is defined as number of hectares that can be irrigated by
constant supply of water at the rate of one cumec throughout the base period.
• It is expressed in hectares/cumec and is denoted by ‘D’.

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 Factors affecting duty
1. Soil characteristics: if the soil of the canal bed is porous and coarse grained,
it leads to more seepage loss and consequently low duty .
• If the soil is compact and closed grained, the seepage will be less and the duty
will be high.
2. Climatic condition: when the atmospheric temperature of the command area
become high, the evaporation loss is more and the duty become low and vice
versa.
3. rainfall: if the rainfall is sufficient during the crop period, less quantity of
irrigation water shall be required and therefore the duty will be more and vice
versa.

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 Factors affecting duty
4. Base period: when the base period is longer, the water requirement will be
more and the duty will be low and vice versa.
5. Type of crop: the water requirement of various crops are different. So, the
duty varies from crop to crop.
6. Topography of agricultural land: if the agricultural land is uneven, the
water requirement will be more and hence the duty will be low.
• If the land has slight slope, the duty will be high as water requirement is
optimum.

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 Factors affecting duty
7. Method of ploughing: proper deep ploughing which is done by tractors
requires overall less quantity of water and hence the duty is high.
• In the shallow ploughing with bullock requires overall more quantity of water,
and hence the duty is low.
8. Methods of irrigation: the duty of water is high in the case of perennial
irrigation system as compared to that in inundation irrigation system.
9. Water tax: if some tax is imposed on the basis of the volume of water
consumption, the farmer will use the water economically, and thus the duty will
be high.

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 Method Of Improving Duty
1. Proper ploughing: ploughig should be done properly and deeply so that the
moisture retaining capacity of the soil is increased.
2. Method of supplying water: the method of supplying water to the
agricultural land should be decided according to the field and soil
conditions.
For examples:
• Furrow method – for crops sown in rows.
• Contour method – for hilly areas.
• Basin method – for orchards.
• Flooding method – for plain lands.
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Method Of Improving Duty
3. Canal lining: to reduce percolation loss the canals should be lined
according to site condition.
4. Transmission loss: to reduce transmission loss the canals should be
taken close to the irrigable lands as far as possible.
5. Crop rotation: the principle of crop rotation should be adopted to
increase the moisture retaining capacity and fertility of the soil.
6. Implementation of tax: the water tax should be imposed on the basis
of volume of water consumption.

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Relation Between Base, Delta And Duty

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 Problems:
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
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 Types of soils
a) Alluvial soils: these soil are formed by the deposition of silt which is
carried by the river water during floods.
• The moisture absorbing capacity of these soil is very good and these are
most suitable for agriculture as they possess good manure value.
b) Black soils: these soils originated from the weathering action on the rocks
like granite, basalt, trap,…
• The characteristics of black soils are that these are sticky when wet and
becomes very hard when when dry.
• The black soil is suitable for the cultivation of cotton.

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 Types of soils
c) Red soils: these are formed by the weathering action on the rocks of
igneous and metamorphic groups.
• These are also known as loam.
• The water absorbing capacity of red soil is very low.
d) Laterite soils: these are formed by the weathering action on the laterite
rocks.
• These are yellowish-red in colour and possess good drainage property.

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 Types of Soil water
When water is spread over the soil either by irrigation or by rainfall, the water is
absorbed by the pores of the soil. This water is termed as soil water or soil
moisture.
a) Gravitational water: when it rains or the irrigation water is supplied to the
soil, the water content of the soil goes on increasing until a saturation point is
reached.
• The portion of water which flows down is known as gravitational water.
• The gravitational water is not useful for the plants as it flows out rapidly and it
cannot be absorbed by the rootzone.

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 Types of Soil water
b) Capillary water: the portion of the water retained by the soil, after
completely eliminating the gravitational water, is known as capillary water.
• This water gets absorbed by the root of the plants and is held in the capillary
pores of the soil particles.
• The water content goes on reducing gradually due to evaporation and
transpiration.
C) Hygroscopic water: the water content below the permanent wilting point is
known as hygroscopic water.
• This water is retained by the soil in the form of thin film on the surface of
soil particles and it cannot be extracted or absorbed by the root of the plants
• So, at this stage, the growth of the plants is stopped and ultimately the plants
are dead.
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 Types of Soil water
d) Field capacity: the field capacity is defined as the amount of maximum
moisture that can be held by the soil against gravity.
e) Permanent wilting point: the permanent wilting point is defined as the
amount of moisture held by soil which cannot be extracted by the plant roots
for transpiration.

Amount of water
Evaporation
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 Consumptive use of water
The consumptive use of water is defined as the total quantity of water used
for the growth of the plants by transpiration and the amount lost by
evaporation (which is known as evapo-transpiration).
It is expressed in hectare - meter per hectare or as depth of water (in m) for a
specified period.
The consumptive use of water is ascertained to known the water requirement
for each crop.
The value of consumptive use of water varies from crop to crop, time to time
and even from place to place.

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 Methods Of Determining Consumptive Use
a) Lysimeter method:

𝐶𝑢 = 𝑊𝑎 −𝑊𝑑
where:
𝐶𝑢 = Consumptive Use
Of water.
𝑊𝑎 = applied water.
𝑊𝑑 = water drained off.

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 Methods Of Determining Consumptive Use
b) Field experimental method: in this method, some fields are selected for
experiment.
• The quantity of water is applied in such a way that it is sufficient for the
satisfactory growth of the crops.
• There should be no run off or deep percolation.

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 Methods Of Determining Consumptive Use
c) Soil moisture study: in this method, several plots of land are selected where
irrigation water is to be supplied.
• The soil samples are taken from different depths at the root zone of the plants
just before and after the irrigation.
• Then the water content of the soil samples are ascertained by laboratory tests.
• The total quantity of water removed in 30 days period is calculated.
• Then a curve of water consumptive versus time is prepared.
• From this curve the water consumptive for any period can be ascertained.

Water removed: Dr = pwd/100

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 Frequency of irrigation
,

Where:
Dw = depth of water to be applied in each watering.
d= depth of root zone.
Ws= unit weight of soil.
Ww= unit weight of water.
Fc= field capacity.
Mo= optimum moisture content.
fw=frequency of watering.
Cu= daily consumptive use of water. 32
 Standard of irrigation water
a) Sediment concentration: the sediment of fine silt improve the fertility of
land. Whereas other types of sedimentation decreases the fertility.
• Again, excessive sedimentation creates trouble in canals and reservoirs.
b) Concentration of soluble salt:
I. When expressed in P.P.M. the amount in excess of 700P.P.M is harmful to
plants.
II. Electrical conductivity of saline water is expressed in micro mhos/cm the
value up to 250 micro mhos/cm is helpful for all crops.
• But the value from 250 – 750 micro mhos/cm is very injurious for crops.

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 Standard of irrigation water
c) Proportion of sodium ions: the percentage of sodium ions should be less than 5.
• If the percentage increase to more than 10, it is injurious to crops.
• The proportion of sodium ions is designated by a factor which is known as
sodium absorption ratio ( S.A.R).
• The water having the value of S.A.R between ‘0’ and ‘10’ is helpful for all crops,
the value more than 10 is unsuitable for irrigation.
d) Concentration of potentially toxic elements: some element toxic to the crops.
• Initially, boron is useful for the growth of crops. But its concentration above 0.3
P.P.M may be toxic to the plants.
• The concentration of selenium is also toxic to the plants.
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 Standard of irrigation water
e) Bi-carbonate concentration: the concentration of calcium and magnesium
bicarbonate increase the proportion of sodium ions which is hazardous for the
plant’s life.
f) Bacterial contamination: the bacterial contamination of irrigation water is
not directly harmful to the plants.
• but the food grains or fruits which are grown by using bacterial
contaminated water may be harmful to human beings.

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 Irrigation Efficiency
The ratio of the amount of water available ( output) to the amount of water
supplied (input) is known as irrigation efficiency.
types of irrigation efficiency
a) Water conveyance efficiency:
Where :
ɲc = water conveyance
efficiency.
Wt=amount of water applied to
land.
Wr= amount of water supplied
from reservoir.
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 Types Of Irrigation Efficiency
b) Water application efficiency:

Where :
ɲa = water application
efficiency.
Wz=amount of water stored in
root zone.
Wl= amount of water applied
to land.

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 Types Of Irrigation Efficiency
c) Water use efficiency:
Where :
ɲu = water use efficiency.
Wu= water used .
Wl= water applied.
d) Consumptive use efficiency:
Where :
ɲcu = consumptive use efficiency .
Cu= consumptive use of water.
Wp= amount of water depleted
from root zone. 38
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