Evapotranspiration

Crop evapotranspiration (ETc) is the amount of

water needed to meet crop water requirement
which has been lost through evapotranspiration.

It is give by:

ETc = Kc x ETo

where: Kc is crop coefficient and ETo is potential

evaporation or reference crop evaporation
Potential / reference crop evapotranspiration

• Potential evapotranspiration is the

maximum rate at which, water if
available can be removed from soil and
plant surfaces.

• Reference evaporation is the potential

evaporation from specific crop (grass,
alfalfa) and a set of surrounding
conditions
Daily Design Irrigation Requirements

• The aim of estimating Etc is to be

able to calculate the daily design
irrigation requirements.

• DDRI is the rate at which the

irrigation system must supply water
in order to achieve the desired level
of irrigation
Evapotranspiration Determination
Can be determined by using:
i. Direct Methods
• Lysimeter
• Field Water Balance
• Evapotranspiration chambers

ii. Indirect Methods

• Calculated from Crop and Climatic Data
• Using theoretical and empirical equations
Direct Methods
Based on the principal of conservation
of mass
Given by:
Change in moisture content of the
controlled volume = depth of root
zone x (final moisture content –
initial moisture content) = inflow -
outflow
Lysimeters
 Crops grown in buried soil filled tanks
 Must be large enough no minimize boundary
effects and restricting root development
 High installation costs and immobility limit
their use
 They are used primary as research tools for
checking the accuracy of other methods
 Types:
i. Nonweighing
ii. Weighing
Nonweighing
• They have access tube for a neutron
probe
• They also have a metal or plastic
membrane that restrict subsurface
lateral in and out flows
• Groundwater recharge and deep
percolations are normally ignored
• A neutron probe is used to detect initial
and final moisture contents
Weighing

• Have a second tank that retains

surrounding soil
• The inside container is free for weighing
• They have ceramic tube which allows
measuring of deep percolation and
leaching requirements
• Reliability of collected data depends on
how well conditions within the lysimeter
match the actual field condition
Field Water Balances

• Measuring all the parameters of the soil

• Evapotranspiration is estimated based on the principle of
conservation mass
• Normally it is difficult to control and measure the field
parameters

Evapotranspiration Chambers
Above ground chamber encloses a vegetated area
It is transparent to radiation and prevents water exchange
with the atmosphere

Not frequently used as the space inside the chamber does

not represent the real outside conditions
Calculating Evapotranspiration

Some of the methods used are:

i. Aerodynamic
ii. Energy balance
iii. Combination
iv. FAO
v. Empirical
Aerodyamic Method

• One of the earliest aerodynamic equations for

estimation evapotranspiration is the Dalton equation
Vapour flux is proportional to mean wind speed.
It is expressed as
ETo = (es –e ) f (u)
where: es = the vapour pressure at the plant surface
(mbar)
e = the vapour pressure of the surrounding air (mbar)
f(u) = the function of the wind speed (m/s2)

• Not wide used because of difficulty of

determining es
Energy balance equation

• Evapotranspiration is controlled by the availability

of energy for vaporizing water
• ET = Qn + Ad – S – A – C – P
where:
Qn = net radiation (mm / day)
Ad = advection (mbar/degree Celsius)
S = heat flux to the soil (cal/ cubic centimeter)
A= heat flux to the air (cal/ cubic centimeter)
C = heat storage in crop (cal/ cubic centimeter)
P = photosynthesis
Combination Method

• In 1948, Penman combined the aerodynamic

and energy balance equation to obtain the
equation for computing ET

ET =
Saturation vapour pressure at air temperature

esa = exp
Slope of saturation vapour pressure versus
temeperature