Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Photosynthesis
Carbon Di-oxide+Water = (in presence of Sunlight & Chlorophyl plant) =
Oxygen+Starch/Carbohydrate
6CO2+6H2O—— 6 O2+ C6H12O6
2.1 General Classification of Soil for Agricultural
Purposes
• Sieve Analyses of the soil samples (dried) gives the textural group
• Soil classification is mainly based on the soil texture.
• Soil texture is determined by the size and type of solid particles (their
distributions) that make up the soil
• Texture of soil affects the flow of soil water, water holding properties,
penetration of roots and circulation of air through the soil.
• texture of soil is more or less constant and does not change with tillage
practice
Soil classification system based on U.S. Department of Agriculture
shallow depth 10 to 20 inches, Moderate 20-40 inches and deep >40 inches
Types of Soil Moisture and Soil Moisture Characteristics Curve
Soil Moisture Characteristics curve
Oven dry Unavailable to plants
Hygroscopic
Clay soil water
Ultimate wilting point
Wilting
range Available for survival
Permanent wilting Wilting coefficient
Capillary
Silt loam water
Available for growth
Sandy loam
Field capacity
saturation Limited part available
Gravity
Gravitational or free water water
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
Soil Moisture content % (percent by Dry weight)
Soil Moisture content = weight of water stored in the certain vol. of soil/ dry weight of soil the soil vol.
Gravity water: the water that flows downwards under the action of gravity
Field capacity: The water content of a soil after free gravity drainage has taken place for a
sufficient period (2 to 5 days) The field capacity water (the quantity of water which any soil can
retain indefinitely against gravity)
Types of soil moisture
• Field capacity (%) =F
Weight Water retained in certain volumeof soil
100
Dry Weight of the same soil
• weight of the soil = A×ds×s×g
• Weight of water =A×dw×w×g
• Depth of water stored in the soil zone or root depth = dw = the total
water storage capacity of the soil = F × d s × s
w
• If irrigation water depth is greater than the dw, the excess water
goes down (drain) as waste
• Field Capacity water consist two parts
– Capillary water: The part of the field capacity water which is attached to
the soil molecules by surface tension against gravitation force. It can be
extracted by the plants by capillarity
– Hygroscopic water: The part of the filed capacity water which is attached
to the soil molecules by loose chemical bonds (water of crystallization on
minerals, salts etc.) These water can not be removed by capillarity and not
available to the plants
Types of soil moisture
• Permanent wilting point: The water content at which the plant can no longer extract
sufficient water for its growth and wilts up
• Available soil moisture: Difference of water content of the soil between the field capacity
and permanent wilting point
Available Soil Moisture Holding Capacity for Various Soil Textures.
Available Soil Moisture
Soil Texture inches/inch inches/foot
Coarse Sand and Gravel 0.02 to 0.06 0.2 to 0.7
Sands 0.04 to 0.09 0.5 to 1.1
Loamy Sands 0.06 to 0.12 0.7 to 1.4
Sandy Loams 0.11 to 0.15 1.3 to 1.8
Fine Sandy Loams 0.14 to 0.18 1.7 to 2.2
Loams and Silt Loams 0.17 to 0.23 2.0 to 2.8
Clay Loams and Silty Clay Loams 0.14 to 0.21 1.7 to 2.5
Silty Clays and Clays 0.13 to 0.18 1.6 to 2.2
• Readily available soil moisture: It is that portion of the available moisture which is most
easily extracted by the plants i.e. 75%-80% of the available moisture
• Soil Moisture Deficiency: The water required to bring the soil moisture content of the
given soil to its field capacity. It is also called as field moisture deficiency.
• Equivalent moisture: It is the water retained by a saturated soil after being centrifuged for
30 minutes by a centrifugal force of 1000 times of that of the gravity. It is slightly less or
almost equal to the field capacity.
Example of estimation of soil moisture available to the
plant
• Numerical Problem: After how many days will you supply irrigation water
to the soil in order to ensure sufficient irrigation of the given crop if a)
field capacity F=28%, b) Permanent wilting point PWP = 13%, c) Density of
soil 1.3 gm/cc d) effective depth of soil zone = 70 cm e) daily consumptive
use of water 12 mm
Find the Solution of the problem and present the result in the
next class on Friday !!!
The crop period or growth period and base period are used as synonyms in preliminary
planning of irrigation projects as they are approximately same
The crop periods of different types of common crops has been given on FAO guidelines and
standard irrigation books
Example of crop period: Rice 120 days, carrot 150 days, onion 210 days, potato 130 days,
Tomato 135 days, peas 140 days etc
Arid Region: The area where irrigation is must for agriculture or the rainfall does not satisfy
the crop water requirements e.g. tropical country India, Nepal, Pakistan, south East Asia
Semi Arid Region: The area where the inferior (normal) crops can be grown without
irrigation .i.e. the crop water requirement is fulfilled by the natural rainfall like in England
2.4 Crop Water Requirement calculation by Penman and
Computer Software Cropwat
• Crop water requirement/consumptive use or evapo-transpiration ( ET Crop or
Cu) for a particular crop = water used by the plant in Transpiration (building of
plant tissues etc) + Evaporation from the adjacent soils and from plant leaves
from its sown time to the time of harvest
• The consumptive use for a given crop at a given place may vary throughout the
day, throughout the month and throughout the crop period since the cropping
stage is varying according to which the rate of metabolism of the plant
changing and the climate conditions are also varying which directly affects the
consumptive use rate of water.
• Values of daily consumptive use or monthly consumptive use are generally
determined for a given place, given time period. Values of consumptive use
over the entire crop period is used to determine the irrigation requirement.
• The irrigation requirement depends on the crop water requirement, cultivation
practices (irrigation methods and efficiency, soil type -AMC/OMC) and
effective rainfall during the crop period
• IRR = CU+ IL-- ER
Crop water requirement calculation method
Crop water requirement Calculation ET crop = Kc × ET0
Where
Kc = crop coefficient depends on the crop type, stage of the crop and prevailing climatic
conditions (RH and Wind speed)
ET0 = Reference Evapo-transpiration (ET0 ) depends on the Climate (temperature, wind,
relative humidity, radiation etc)
Determination of Crop Coefficient KC
The growing stage of the crop is divided into four stage
• Initial stage: germination and early growth when the soil surface is not or is hardly
covered by the crop (ground coverage <10%)
• Crop Development Stage: from end of initial stage to the attainment of effective full
ground cover (ground cover= 70-80%)
• Mid-season stage: from attainment of effective full ground cover to time of start of
maturing as indicated by discoloring of leaves (beans) or leaves falling off (cotton)
• Late season stage: from end of mid season stage until full maturity or harvest
RH max 80%
RH min 30% ed mbar =20.79 ea*RH mean/100 Calculate (ea-ed) =17.21
RH mean = 55% Alter natively table 6a or 6b
Twet = 20 0C 20.7
Tdry = 24 0C Aspirated or well
ventilated
U2 = 70 km/day f(u) = or from Table 7 = f(u) =
0.27(1+U2/100) = 0.46
0.459
Tmean = 28 0C 1-W= 0.20 From Table 8 Calculate
Altitude = 1400 (1-W)f(u)(ea-ed) = 1.565
Month = may Ra= 16.475 From Table 10 Cal n/N = 0.74
Latitude = 27.50 N = 13.53 From Table 11 Rs = from Table 12 or = Rs = 10.207
sunshine hour n = 10 (0.25+0.50*n/N)Ra Rns = 7.655
α =0.25 Calculate Rns= (1-α)*Rs From Table 12
=0.466*16.475 =7.677
T mean = 28 0C f(T)= 16.3 From Table 13 Calculate
n/N= 0.74 f(n/N)= 0.77 From Table 15 Rnl = f(T)*f(n/N)*f(ed) Rnl = 1.707
ed = 20.79 f(ed)= 0.136 From Table 14 Rn = Rns-Rnl Rn = 7.655-1.707 = 5.948
T mean = 28 0C W= 0.80 From Table 9 Calculate
Altitude = 1400 m WRn = 4.758
Uday/Unight = 2 C =0.96 From Table 16 Calculate ET0 = c[W.Rn+(1-
RH max =80% W).f(u)(ea-ed)] 6.07 mm/day
Rs = 10.207
CROPWAT – Computer program
• Cropwat is a computer program or software made by
FAO to compute the crop water requirement by
modified Penman method i.e. Penman Monteith
method.
• The cropwat is used for design, management of
irrigation schemes using actual data set, through the
different steps required to calculate
evapotranspiration, crop water requirements,
scheme water supply and irrigation scheduling
• Cropwat is free software and can be downloaded
from the web page of FAO
2.5 Principal crops, Their Season and water Requirements
Principal crops:
• Rice, Wheat, Maize, Potato, Grains (Moggi, peas, grams beans etc),
vegetables, sugarcane and other cash crops like jute, tea and coffee etc.
Crop Season:
• The period during which some particular types of crops can be grown
every year on the same land is known as crop season
• Kharif Season: This season ranges from June to October. The crops are
sown in the very beginning of monsoon and harvested at the end of
autumn.
The major Kharif crops are---- Rice, Millet, Maize, Jute, and Groundnut.
• Rabi Season: This season ranges from October to March. The crops are
sown in the very beginning of winter and harvested at the end of spring.
The major Rabi crops are-----Wheat, Gram, Mustard, Rapeseed, Linseed,
Pulses, Onion etc.
Crop Water Requirement of common crops in India/Nepal (no site specific
data is available for Nepal)
S.N. Crop Name Adopted depth of Cropping season Crop Period (days) Seasonal water
water for Nepal requirement (mm)
(cm) FAO data
1 Rice 120 Monsoon:June-Nove 120 (15/35/45/25) 500-1500
Spring:dec/jan-may (500-950)
2 Vegetable
Carrots 45 March-June 150(30/40/60/20) 250-500
Onion Nov/dec-Apr/may 210(20/35/110/45)
3 Wheat 40 Nov-April/may 120 (15/25/50/30) India 375-500
135 (20/25/60/30) korea
4 Maize 25 Monsoon :May-sept 140(25/40/45/30) 400-750
Winter:Nov-Mar (terai)
• Advantages
– Small cost of investment and operation
– Does not need skilled man power and common in farmers level
– Labour intensive for maintenance and operation
• Disadvantages
– It is applicable for the locations having abundant water
– Irrigation efficiency is low
– Need level or graded land
– Losses of some lands for making ridges furrow and borders
– Promote weed growths