Determination of Water Requirement and Crop Coefficient for Sugarcane Using Lysimeter Experiment under Semiarid Climatic Conditions of Ethiopia
Publication: Journal of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering
Volume 147, Issue 11
Abstract
Sugarcane is one of the most important industrial crops grown throughout tropical areas. Sugarcane production is greatly expanding in developing countries like Ethiopia due to increasing demand for sugar. However, sugarcane is characterized by a long growing period and high crop water demand. Effective management of sugarcane requires accurate determination of its water requirements throughout the growing period. The aim of this study was to determine sugarcane water requirements and establish its crop coefficient. Sugarcane was grown on two non-weighable lysimeters to quantify the field water balance components from which actual crop evapotranspiration was calculated. A neutron probe was used to monitor change in moisture content per unit of time. The soil moisture in the lysimeters was managed such that optimum conditions were maintained to ensure unrestricted crop evapotranspiration. Reference evapotranspiration was estimated using climate data from a nearby station and the CROPWAT model. Sugarcane evapotranspiration ranged from 1.63 to during the early and peak growth stages, respectively. The growth stage-based crop coefficients were estimated as 0.42, 0.93, 1.26, and 1.05 during the emergence, tillering, grand formation, and ripening stages, respectively. When compared to Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) of the United Nations references, the sugarcane crop coefficients in this study were 2%, 1%, and 30% greater during emergence, grand formation, and ripening, respectively, but 33% lower at tillering. Although these results were obtained from a single experiment, they can be useful as field measurement-based data are lacking in many areas of the region.
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Data Availability Statement
All data, models, and code generated or used during the study appear in the published article and are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request. Any questions regarding the study may also be addressed to the corresponding author.
Acknowledgments
We are grateful to Adama Science and Technology (ASTU) and Ambo University for the financial support provided for this research. We would like to acknowledge the Melkassa Agricultural Research Center, especially its irrigation and drainage department staff, for their cooperation throughout the experiment works undertaken. All authors played vital roles to accomplish this manuscript. The corresponding author, BY, develop the idea for the research, designed the research method, lysimeter experiment, soil water balance analysis, climatic parameter data collection, determination of reference evapotranspiration using a CROPWAT version 8.0 model, measurement of sugarcane evapotranspiration, development of sugarcane crop coefficient, and wrote the manuscript. MA has contributed significant input to successful completion of the manuscript by giving constructive comments, reviewing the manuscript preparation, and improving and editing the manuscript. TH has contributed consistent and inspiring guidance, and valuable suggestions on the manuscript of the corresponding author.
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© 2021 American Society of Civil Engineers.
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Received: Mar 5, 2021
Accepted: Jun 14, 2021
Published online: Sep 8, 2021
Published in print: Nov 1, 2021
Discussion open until: Feb 8, 2022
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