Determination of Crop Evapotranspiration and Single Crop Coefficients of Maize Using by a Weighing Lysimeter in Mediterranean Region in Turkey

Abstract

Today, accurate irrigation approaches are of great importance due to climate change and a decrease in water resources. FAO methodology based on reference evapotranspiration (ET0) and crop coefficients (Kc) are commonly used worldwide to determine crop water requirements (ETc). Kc values of different plants for different areas can be taken from FAO-56 and FAO-24. However, crop coefficients must be determined or calibrated for every relevant region because the climate conditions in the field and surrounding conditions may not be similar to the standard conditions. For this purpose, what crop evapotranspiration and crop coefficients would be in the case of timely (first crop) and late sowing (second crop) of maize were investigated in this study in Adana where the Mediterranean climate characteristics are prevalent during 2012 and 2013 years. A weighing lysimeter was used to obtain ETc and Kc of maize. ET0 was calculated using the FAO-56 Penman-Monteith (PM56) method. The results showed that the duration of initial, development, mid-season, and end-season growth stages for first crop maize was 22, 26, 43, and 37 days totaling 128 days, and for second crop maize, it was 14, 24, 42, and 38 days totaling 118 days. The ETc value of the second crop maize was 14% higher than that value of the first crop maize. The mean Kc values were 0.74, 0.92, 1.63, and 0.42 at the initial, development, mid-season, and end-season growth stages for the first crop maize, whereas they were determined as 0.46, 0.89, 1.68, and 0.92, respectively for the second crop maize.

A Pathway Analysis of Evapotranspiration Variation Characteristics and Influencing Factors of Summer Maize in the Haihe Plain

“…(2) In 2021, the total evapotranspiration of summer maize fields throughout the entire growth period was 382.97 mm, which is close to the evapotranspiration of maize fields after deficit irrigation treatments conducted by Liu Meihan et al [13] in the Hetao Irrigation District of Inner Mongolia, China (359.21 mm) but significantly different from the evapotranspiration of maize under timely sowing conditions in the Adana region of Turkey, as reported by Deniz Levent KOÇ et al [15] (618 mm). The experimental sites of these three studies are located in different climates: the Hetao region of Inner Mongolia is in a dry or semi-arid area; Adana is in the Mediterranean climate zone; and the experimental area of this study is in a temperate continental monsoon climate zone.…”

Analysing the impact of climate change on evapotranspiration in a climate-sensitive region: Example of Central Anatolia (Türkiye)

“…https://doi.org/10.17221/107/2023-SWR (2011) for Makking and HS methods and byAzlak and Şaylan (2019) forJones and Ritchie (1990) (JR), JH, and HS methods. In addition to these studies, another research on ET was conducted byKoç et al (2022) on K c coefficients. K c values are important to estimate actual ET in agricultural applications.…”