Water Management in Horticultural Crops

Peak Consumptive use and critical period

• These stages do not usually coincide with the periods of peak consumptive use by crops.
  
• It is not appropriate to consider the crops, at these critical stages, require more water as their water needs are at the higher.
  
• Critical stages of water requirement are usually the turning points in plant life cycle.
  
• This can be represented by a sigmoid or S-shaped curve.
  
• The curve shows two most important points of change in the growth rate, viz., the point of inflection and the point of deflection.


• The point of inflection indicates a sudden spurt in vegetative growth and the point of deflection represents the slowing down of vegetative growth and initiation of the reproductive phase. Crops demand adequate water at these stages and can not afford to stand water stress without serious reduction in growth and yield. These two stages of crop life, therefore, considered as the most critical stages of water requirement.