Estimation of

irrigation
requirement using
CROPWAT
Amit Yalwar
Joel Matthew
Prasannna J Dhanagond
Subin Thomas
Sushma M

December 17

2013

1.
(a) Differentiate between Reference Evapotranspiration and Actual Crop Evapotranspiration
Reference Evapotranspiration

Actual Crop Evapotranspiration

The evapotranspiration rate from a reference

surface is called the reference crop
evapotranspiration or reference evapotranspiration
and is denoted as ETo. The reference surface is a
hypothetical grass reference crop with specific
characteristics. The assumed characteristics are:
crop height of 0.12 m
fixed surface resistance of 70 s m-1
an albedo of 0.23

Actual evapotranspiration in a soil water budget is

the actual amount of water delivered to the
atmosphere by evaporation and transpiration. In wet
months, when precipitation exceeds potential
evapotranspiration, actual evapotranspiration is equal
to potential evapotranspiration. In dry months, when
potential evapotranspiration exceeds precipitation,
actual evapotranspiration is equal to precipitation
plus the absolute value of the change in soil moisture
storage. Denoted by AET

ETo was introduced to study the evaporative

demand of the atmosphere independently of crop
type, crop development and management
practices. As water is abundantly available at the
reference evapotranspiring surface, soil factors do
not affect ET. The only factors affecting ETo are
climatic parameters. Consequently, ETo is a climatic
parameter and can be computed from weather
data. ETo expresses the evaporating power of the
atmosphere at a specific location and time of the
year. The use of potential ET is strongly
discouraged due to ambiguities in its definition.

The reference crop evapotranspiration represents the

evapotranspiration from a standardized vegetated
surface where as AET represents the real
evapotranspiration occurring in a specific situation.
Actual Evapotranspiration is dependent on several
factors such as Weather parameters, Crop factors,
and Management & environmental conditions.

(b) List some of the important factors affecting crop evapotranspiration

The factors that affect the crop evapotranspiration are:

Weather parameters such as radiation, air temperature, humidity and wind speed
Crop factors such as crop type, crop height, crop roughness, reflection, ground cover and crop rooting
Management and environmental conditions such as cultivation practices, application of fertilizers, availability
of water and the type of irrigation method employed

(c) For the FAO-56 Penman-Monteith method write the following

i)

Expression for ETo

Where
Rn is the net radiation,
G is the soil heat flux,
(es - ea) represents the vapour pressure deficit of the air,
ra is the mean air density at constant pressure,
cp is the specific heat of the air,
D represents the slope of the saturation vapour pressure temperature relationship,
g is the psychrometric constant, and
rs and ra are the (bulk) surface and aerodynamic resistances

ii)

How to calculate ET from ETo by using the crop coefficients

Crop evaporation is calculated by multiplying the reference crop evapotranspiration, ETo, by a crop coefficient, Kc:
Where,

ETc = Kc ETo

ETc crop evapotranspiration [mm d-1],

Kc crop coefficient [dimensionless],
ETo reference crop evapotranspiration [mm d-1]

The reference ETo is defined and calculated using the FAO Penman-Monteith equation.
There are two approaches to determine crop coefficients
i.

Single crop coefficient approach (Kc)

In the single crop coefficient approach, the effect of crop transpiration and soil evaporation are
combined into a single Kc coefficient. The coefficient integrates differences in the soil evaporation and
crop transpiration rate between the crop and the grass reference surface. As soil evaporation may
fluctuate daily as a result of rainfall or irrigation, the single crop coefficient expresses only the timeaveraged (multi-day) effects of crop evapotranspiration.

ii.

Dual crop coefficient approach (Kcb + Ke)

In the dual crop coefficient approach, the effects of crop transpiration and soil evaporation are
determined separately. Two coefficients are used: the basal crop coefficient (Kcb) to describe plant
transpiration, and the soil water evaporation coefficient (Ke) to describe evaporation from the soil
surface. The single Kc coefficient is replaced by:
Where,

Kc = Kcb + Ke
Kcb basal crop coefficient,
Ke soil water evaporation coefficient

2. Estimation of crop evapotranspiration using CROPWAT

(a) Give a short description about CROPWAT, mentioning its purpose/ functions, organization behind its
development/ maintenance.
Purpose/Functions and features: CROPWAT for Windows is a computer program for the calculation of crop water
requirements and irrigation requirements based on soil, climate and crop data. In addition, the program allows the
development of irrigation schedules for different management conditions and the calculation of scheme water supply
for varying crop patterns. CROPWAT can also be used to evaluate farmers irrigation practices and to estimate crop
performance under both rainfed and irrigated conditions. There are many features built in to CROPWAT, some of
which are as follows:
monthly, decade and daily input of climatic data for calculation of reference evapotranspiration (ETo)

backward compatibility to allow use of data from CLIMWAT database

possibility to estimate climatic data in the absence of measured values

decade and daily calculation of crop water requirements based on updated calculation algorithms including
adjustment of crop-coefficient values

calculation of crop water requirements and irrigation schedulingfor paddy & upland rice, using a newly
developed procedure to calculate water requirements including the land preparation period

interactive user adjustable irrigation schedules

daily soil water balance output tables

easy saving and retrieval of sessions and of user-defined irrigation schedules

graphical presentations of input data, crop water requirements and irrigation schedules

easy import/export of data and graphics through clipboard or ASCII text files

extensive printing routines, supporting all windows-based printers

context-sensitive help system

Multilingual interface and help system: English, Spanish, French and Russian

Organization behind its development/maintenance: CROPWAT is a decision support tool developed by the Land
and Water Development Division of FAO. The Land and Water Division aims at enhancing the agricultural
productivity and advancing the sustainable use of land and water resources through their improved tenure,
management, development and conservation. It addresses the challenges member countries face in ensuring
productive and efficient use of land and water resources in order to meet present and future demands for agricultural
products, while ensuring the long-term sustainability of the land and water quantity and quality.
FAO is engaged in a programmatic approach to agricultural water management that addresses water use efficiency
and productivity, and deploys best practices for water use and conservation. The Division further develops and
maintains various information systems, including its continually updated water information system, AQUASTAT, and
tools for analysis such as CROPWAT, AQUACROP and MASSCOTE, thereby contributing to the formulation of
national and regional water management strategies and perspective studies.

(b)

List various modules available in CROPWAT and briefly mention the functions of each of the

modules.
The modules available in CROPWAT are as follows:

Climate/ETo

The Climate module can be selected by clicking on the Climate/ETo icon in the module bar located on the of
the main CROPWAT window. The module is primary for data input, requiring information on the meteorological
station (country, name, altitude, latitude and longitude) together with climatic data.

Rain

The Rain module also include calculations, producing Effective rainfall data using one of the approaches available,
which can be selected by clicking on Options on the toolbar while the Rain module is the active window.

Crop

The Crop module requires crop data over the different development stages, defined
as follows:
i. Initial stage: it starts from planting date to approximately 10% ground cover.
ii. Development stage: it runs from 10% ground cover to effective full cover.
iii. Effective full cover for many crops occurs at the initiation of flowering.
iv. Mid-season stage: it runs from effective full cover to the start of maturity. The start of maturity is often
indicated by the beginning of the ageing, yellowing or senescence of leaves, leaf drop, or the browning of fruit to
the degree that the crop evapotranspiration is reduced relative to the ETo.
v. Late season stage: it runs from the start of maturity to harvest or full senescence.

Soil

The module includes calculations, providing the initial available soil moisture and, in case of rice, the maximum
percolation rate after puddling.
The Soil module is essentially data input, requiring the following general soil data:
i. Total Available Water (TAW)
ii. Maximum infiltration rate
iii. Maximum rooting depth
iv. Initial soil moisture depletion

CWR(Crop Water Requirement)

The CWR module includes calculations, producing the irrigation water requirement of the crop on a decadal basis
and over the total growing season, as the difference between the crop evapotranspiration under standard
conditions (ETc) and the Effective rainfall.

Schedule
i. The schedule module essentially includes calculations, producing a soil water balance on a daily step. The
following parameters are used:
ii. Effective rainfall, over dry, normal and/or wet years
iii. Water stress coefficient (Ks)
iv. Crop evapotranspiration under non-standard conditions (ETc adj)

v.
vi.
vii.
viii.
ix.
x.

Root zone depletion

Net irrigation
Deficit
Irrigation losses
Gross irrigation
Flow

Crop Pattern

The cropping pattern module is primary data input, requiring information on the crops (Up to 20) being part of
the scheme. With reference to each crop, the following data should be provided:
i. Crop file
ii. Planting date
iii. Area: extension of the area dedicated to each crop, as a percentage of the total cropped area. Care
should be taken that at any given moment the sum of the individual crops does not exceed 100 % of total
scheme area.
Scheme
The scheme module includes calculations, producing:
i. Irrigation requirement for each crop of the scheme
ii. Net scheme irrigation requirement
iii. Irrigated area as a percentage of the total area
iv. Irrigation requirement for the actual area

(c)

download the meteorological data for

-

Kurnool district in Andhra Pradesh

Get the annual average of

Maximum temperature
Minimum temperature and
Rainfall

Get the latitude/longitude and altitude of Kurnool from any other sources
a. Annual average Maximum temperature from 1901 to 2002

Month
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec

Temp oC
30.30075
33.26194
36.84572
39.02913
38.80286
34.63322
31.95679
31.49069
31.76408
31.32451
29.70408
28.89462

b. Annual average Minimum Temperature from 1901 to 2002

Month
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec

Temp oC
17.12696
19.11847
22.00961
25.04699
25.5075
24.33742
23.35353
23.05736
22.61122
21.71819
19.16203
16.98119

c. Annual Average Rainfall from 1901 to 2002

Month
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec

mm
1.092598
1.279314
3.59452
17.79497
46.0072
50.45806
60.67507
71.283
132.8518
108.6945
40.31686
8.175127

d. Latitude: 15o50N
Longitude: 78o05E
Altitude: 274-281m above MSL (Various sources quote values in between 274m and 281m)

(d)

Estimate the irrigation requirement for a selected crop and soil. Calculate the total irrigation

requirement during different growth periods of the crop (initial stage, crop development stage etc.)
Crop chosen: Rice
Soil type chosen: Black Clay Soil
Total Irrigation requirement: 917.1 mm/dec
Stage-wise Irrigation requirement:
Month
Nov
Nov
Nov
Dec
Dec
Dec
Jan
Jan
Jan
Feb
Feb
Feb
Mar
Mar
Mar
Apr
Total

Decade
1
2
3
1
2
3
1
2
3
1
2
3
1
2
3
1

Stage
Nursery
Nurs/LPr
Nurs/LPr
Initial
Initial
Development
Development
Development
Mid
Mid
Mid
Mid
Late
Late
Late
Late

Kc
ETc
ETc
Eff rain
Irr. Req.
coeff mm/day mm/dec mm/dec mm/dec
1.2
0.46
0.5
1.8
0.5
1.19
0.79
7.9
11.5
90.4
1.06
3.85
38.5
8.6
30
1.07
3.81
38.1
5.3
178.6
1.1
3.86
38.6
1.6
37
1.1
3.98
43.8
1.2
42.6
1.13
4.19
41.9
0.9
41
1.16
4.44
44.4
0.1
44.4
1.2
4.89
53.8
0.2
53.6
1.21
5.24
52.4
0.4
52
1.21
5.56
55.6
0.4
55.2
1.21
5.96
47.7
0.7
47
1.2
6.36
63.6
0.6
63
1.17
6.59
65.9
0.7
65.2
1.12
6.5
71.5
2.4
69.1
1.07
6.43
51.4
3.1
47.5
715.6

39.4

917.1