Water requirement of crop

WATER REQUIREMENT OF CROP

  • Water requirement of a crop is the quantity of water regardless of source, needed for normal crop growth and yield in a period of time at a place and may be supplied by precipitation or by irrigation or by both.
  • Water is needed mainly to meet the demands of evaporation (E), transpiration (T) and metabolic needs of plants, all together known as consumptive use.
  • Water is currently the most limiting resource for crop production and is recognized as the most critical resource for future developments.
  • Water use efficiency can be increased through introduction of short duration and drought tolerant crop cultivars, mulching to reduce evaporation, land leveling to reduce water requirement and optimum irrigation regime.
  • Water use efficiency is defined as the yield of marketable crop produced per unit of water used in evapotranspiration.
Last modified: Wednesday, 3 August 2011, 7:43 AM