Crop Water Requirement and Irrigation Scheduling

Abstract

With increasing scarcity and growing competition for water, judicious use of water in agricultural sector will be necessary. This means that exact or correct amount and correct timing of application should be adopted. In addition, it will need more widespread adoption of deficit irrigation, especially in arid and semi-arid regions. Recent advances in new irrigation technologies will help to identify irrigation scheduling strategies that minimize water demand with minimal impacts on yields and yield quality, leading to improved food security. This chapter discusses the detail method for crop and irrigation water requirement and latest concepts of irrigation scheduling and strategies involved in irrigation scheduling. Numerous examples are incorporated to understand the procedure to calculate irrigation water requirement and irrigation scheduling. In addition, techniques for command area development are discussed along with sample illustrations of designing parameters for command area.