CROP WATER REQUIREMENT

3. CROP WATER REQUIREMENTS

Example Problem 3.1: Use Blaney-Criddle method to calculate

consumptive use (PET) for rice crop grown from January to March (Dalua
Rabi crop) in Orissa at latitude 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
0
Mean temperature C 12 16 24
Rainfall (mm) 8 20 16

Solution
For rice crop, monthly crop coefficient K of equation (3.1) may be taken as 1.10.
Mean monthly sunshine hours for latitude of 220N for the months of January,
February and March are obtained form Table-3.1 and tabulated below.

Table: Blaney-Criddle Method of Computation of Consumptive use of Rice Crop for

the example above:

Month Mean Monthly % Monthly K PET Effective Depth of

monthly (P) of day Consumptive (4) x (5) rainfall = irrigation
temp time Use factor 80% * (6) – (7)
(Tm) Hours from (F) TRF (cm)
Table 4.9 (cm)1
(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8)
January 12 7.62 10.37 1.1 11.40 0.64 10.76
February 16 7.20 11.12 1.1 12.23 1.60 10.63
March 24 8.40 16.04 1.1 17.64 1.28 16.36

F for col. (4) for January = (0.0457 Tm + 0.8128) x P

= (0.0457 x 12 + 0.8128) x 7.62 = 10.37 cm
F (February) = (0.0457 x 16 + 0.8128) x 7.2 = 11.12 cm
F (March) = (0.0457 x 24 + 0.8128) x 84 = 16.04 cm
The net irrigation demand = 10.76 + 10.63 + 16.36 = 37.75 cm

Second method
Figure 3.1: ETo determination from Blanney Criddle's F factor for different condition of
relative humidity, sunshine duration and day-time wind

1
Effective rainfall=80%(Rainfall given in table)

LECTURE NOTE 1
CROP WATER REQUIREMENT

For any month considered the ETo can be calculated by the following equation and
by the help of figure- below.
ET0 = C P (0.46 T + 8) ...3.3
Where the parameters are as defined in previous section.

LECTURE NOTE 2
CROP WATER REQUIREMENT

Figure 3.5 can be used to estimate ETo using calculated values of p(0.46T+8) for
i) three levels of minimum humidity (RH min)
ii) three levels of the ratio of actual to maximum possible sunshine hours (n/N)
and
iii) three ranges of daytime wind conditions at 2m height (Uday).
Note:
Minimum humidity refers to minimum daytime humidity
Wind refers to daytime wind. Generally Uday/Unight =2 and mean 24 hr wind data
should be multiplied by 1.33 to obtain mean daytime wind.
Example Problem 3.2:
Given: Cairo, Egypt,: latitude 300N, altitude 95m, month July.
Calculation:
Tmax = Tmax daily values/31 350c.
Tmin = Tmin daily values/31 220c.
Tdaily mean = Tmean/31 or [( Tmax/31) +( Tmin/31)]/2 28.50c
0
P (from table for 30 N) 0.31
P(0.46T+8) = 0.31(0.46*28.5 +8) 6.6mm/day
RH min (from climates of Africa) medium
n/N (from climates of Africa) high to medium
U2 day time (from climates of Africa) moderate
ETo fig 3.1 8.0 mm/day
Example problem 3.7: A discharge of 15 cumecs is released at the head of the
canal. If the duty at the field is 1800 ha/cumecs, and the losses in the transit are
30%, determine the area that can be irrigated.

Solution:
o Discharge at field= 0.7*15=10.5 cumecs
o Irrigated area=1800 * 10.5= 18,900ha

LECTURE NOTE 3
 CROP WATER REQUIREMENT

EXAMPLE PROBLEM 3.8 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 canals are respectively 15%, 25%, 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

Solution: Calculation is done on table:

Crop Wheat Sugarcane cotton Rice Vegetable Sum
8.64 B 0.576 1.725 0.972 1.296 1.481 -
,m
D
Volume of water = 8640 17280 4860 9720 7410 47910
V * Airr , (ha-m) ha-m

Total volume of water 47,910 ha-m

47910
Volume at head of canal = 63,880 ha-m
0.75
63880
Volume of reservoir = 75,150 ha-m
0.85

Example Problem 3.9:

Determine Kc at day 20, 40, 70 and 95 for the dry bean crop.
Crop Length Kc
growth (days)
stage
initial 25 Kc ini = 0.15
crop 25 -
development
mid-season 30 Kc mid = 1.19
late season 20 Kc end = 0.35

At i = 20: initial stage, Kc = Kc ini = 0.15 -

At i = 40 Crop development stage,

LECTURE NOTE 4
 CROP WATER REQUIREMENT

For: (Lprev) = Lini = 25 days

and: Lstage = Ldev = 25 days
From Eq. Kc = 0.15 + [(40 - 25)/25](1.19 - 0.77 -
66: 0.15) =
At i = 70: mid-season stage, Kc = Kc mid = 1.19 -
At i = 95 late season stage,
For: (Lprev) = Lini + Ldev + Lmid = (25 + 80 days
25 + 30) =
and: Lstage = Llate = 20 days
From Eq. Kc = 1.19 + [(95-80)/20](0.35- 0.56 -
66: 1.19) =
The crop coefficients at day 20, 40, 70 and 95 for the dry bean crop are 0.15, 0.77, 1.19
and 0.56 respectively.
Solution:

EXAMPLE PROBLEM 3.10

Maize crop planted on March 1. The total duration of the growing season of the crop
is 4.5 months. The evapotranspiration of the crop have been determined using one
of the methods. The Kc values and effective rainfall during each decade have been
determined. If there is appreciable contribution from the ground water and carry over
soil moisture can also be include. For this particular example, the above two
mentioned contributions except effective rainfall have been assumed to be nil.

Solution:

Month Dec Stage Kc ET0 ETcrop ETcrop Peff NIR NIR

mm/dec Kc.*ETo mm/dec mm/dec mm/dec mm/day
March 1 Ini 0.30 4.00 1.20 12.00 0 12.00 1.20
,, 2 Ini 0.30 4.20 1.26 12.60 0 12.60 1.26
,, 3 Ini 0.30 3.90 1.17 11.70 0 11.70 1.17
April 1 Dev 0.50 3.80 1.90 19.00 4 15.00 1.50
,, 2 Dev 0.80 4.20 3.36 33.60 4 29.60 2.96
,, 3 Dev 1.00 4.10 4.10 41.00 4 37.00 3.70
May 1 Dev/mid 1.00 3.90 3.90 39.00 2.5 36.50 3.65
,, 2 mid 1.00 3.80 3.80 38.00 2.5 35.50 3.55
,, 3 mid 1.00 4.00 4.00 40.00 2.5 37.50 3.75
June 1 mid 1.00 4.30 4.30 43.00 5.5 37.50 3.75
,, 2 Late 0.80 4.50 3.60 36.00 5.5 30.50 3.05
,, 3 Late 0.65 3.70 2.405 24.05 5.5 18.55 1.855
July 1 Late 0.50 3.60 1.80 18.00 8.00 10.00 1.00

LECTURE NOTE 5
 CROP WATER REQUIREMENT

EXAMPLE PROBLEM 3.13

For the data below, determine depth & interval of irrigation during different stages.
Depth of the root zone = 1 m, FC = 20 %, PwP = 8 %
Dry density of soil = 1.6 gm/cm3 and density of water = 1 gm/cm3. The rates of
consumptive uses during different stages are as follows. A depletion of 50% during
initial period, 60 % during development and mid – season stage and 70 % during
late season stage is allowable.
Solution:
Month June July August September
Dec 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3
Stage ini ini In/dev dev dev dev mid mid mid Late Late Late
ETcrop/mm/day 3.5 3.5 5.0 5.2 5.8 6.50 6.6 6.6 6.6 6.2 6.0 5.80
Root depth(m) 0.30 0.30 0.4 0.50 0.60 0.70 0.80 0.80 0.80 0.80 0.80 0.80
Depletion 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.60 0.60 0.60 0.60 0.60 0.60 0.70 0.70 0.70
Fraction (p)
Depth of 28.8 28.80 38.4 57.60 69.12 80.64 92.16 92.16 92.16 107. 107. 107.
irrigation (mm) 0 52 52 52
Interval of 8 8 7 11 11 12 13 13 3 17 17 18
irrigation
(days)
Irrigation 7 11 13 17
interval (days)

LECTURE NOTE 6
CROP WATER REQUIREMENT

EXAMPLE PROBLEM 3.12

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 some hours. 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.

Solution:

Wf 120 lit / sec

a) Ec x 100 x 100 80 %
Wd 150 lit / sec
Wp 100 lit / sec
b ) Ef x 100 x 100 83 . 3 %
Wf 120 lit / sec
100 x 60 x 60 x8
2880m3
Water delivered to the plot = 1000

Water stored in the root zone =2880m3 – Application losses

= 2880m3 - 440m3 = 2440m3
Ws 2440 m 3
c) E a x 100 x 100 84 . 7 %
Wp 2880 m 3
Total A.M = 21cm/m x 1.80m = 37.80 cm
60
RAM = 100 x 37 .80 cm 22 . 68 cm

3
22 . 68
In volume, RAM = x 1 . 8 x 10 4
4082 . 4 m
100

Ws 2440m3
d) Es x 100 59.8% 60%
Wn 4082.4m 3
1.8 1.20
Average water penetration d 1.50m
2
Numerical deviation at upper end =1.80 –1.50=0.30m
At lower end = 1.50 – 1.20 =0.30m
2 x 0,30
Average numerical deviation = 0,30m
2
y 0,30
e) Ed 100 x 1 100 x 1 80%
d 1.50

LECTURE NOTE 7