| Author(s) | A. Alazba |
| Affiliation | Agricultural Engineering Department, King Saud University P.O. Box 2460, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia |
| Title | Estimating Palm Water Requirements Using Penman-Monteith Mathematical Model |
| Source | Journal of King Saud University. Agricultural Sciences. Volume 16, No 2. (2004/1424) |
| Abstract | The date palm water requirements have theoretically been estimated using the Penman-Monteith model. The grass was considered as the reference crop type with a height of 0.12 m. The historically agro-metrological data from seven regions popular with date palms were collected. The annual ETc varies from location to another and approximately falls between 1,500 and 2,000 mm. The annual irrigation water requirements range from 5500 mm, with an irrigation efficiency equal to 40 % and 10 % leaching requirement, to 1,500 mm for an irrigation efficiency of 90 % and zero leaching requirement. In other words, the annual volumetric palm water requirements per hectare fall between 15,000 m3 and 55,000 m3 depending mostly on location, level of the irrigation management, and quality of the irrigation water. For comparison, actual field data were collected from four palm fields in the central region. Two fields deliver water to the palms using flood irrigation systems and the other two fields apply water through drip irrigation systems. The results showed that the field observations and theoretical estimates of palm water requirements have generally good agreements, particularly during the periods of mid and end seasons. During the early season, the agreement of observations and estimates of the palm water requirements are quietly fair. |
