Abstract
Maize water use was measured by water balance in a 6-year field trial in the west-central Great Plains of the United States. Seasonal water use of the 102-day maturity class variety varied from 616 to 774 mm, with an average of 666 mm. About 10% of the seasonal crop evapotranspiration from the drip-irrigated crop was estimated to be evaporation from the wet soil surface following precipitation or irrigation. Seasonal crop evapotranspiration averaged 68% of tall (alfalfa) reference evapotranspiration and 82% of short (grass) reference evapotranspiration. Derived basal alfalfa-reference crop coefficients, , matched the ASCE Manual of Practice 70 (MOP #70) [Jensen, M. E., and Allen, R. G., eds. (2016). Evaporation, evapotranspiration, and irrigation water requirements, ASCE Manual of Practice 70, 2nd Ed., ASCE, Reston, VA] values fairly well during crop development, but mid-season values were about 1.05, which exceeded MOP #70 values by about 10%. Short reference values matched MOP #70 {and Food and Agricultural Organization Irrigation and Drainage Paper #56 [Allen, R. G., Pereira, L. S., Raes, D., and Smith, M. (1998). Crop evapotranspiration: Guidelines for computing crop water requirements, FAO Irrigation and Drainage Paper 56, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome.]} recommended values fairly well. The derived basal crop coefficients were linearly related to crop canopy ground cover, which provided an excellent way to scale during both the crop development and maturation stages.
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Acknowledgments
A field study of this scope involves extensive planning and data collection. The authors acknowledge the diligent contributions of Walter Bausch, Dale Shaner, Garrett Banks, Liam Cummins, Doug Barlin, Ted Bernard, Gerald Buchleiter, and dozens of Colorado State University students who managed the crops and collected data. USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer.
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Mention of trade names or commercial products in this publication is solely for the purpose of providing specific information and does not imply recommendation or endorsement by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
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Journal of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering
Volume 144 • Issue 6 • June 2018
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This work is made available under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
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Received: Sep 19, 2017
Accepted: Dec 29, 2017
Published online: Apr 12, 2018
Published in print: Jun 1, 2018
Discussion open until: Sep 12, 2018
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