Evapotranspiration and water-use efficiency of irrigated colored cotton cultivar in semiarid regions

Pedro V. de Azevedo, José R. C. Bezerra, Vicente de P. R. da Silva

Brazilian Company for Agriculture and Animal Research (Embrapa Algod?o), Rua Osvaldo Cruz, 1143, Centenário, Campina Grande, PB, Brazil.
Federal University of Campina Grande, Av. Aprígio Veloso 882, Bodocongó, Campina Grande, PB, Brazil.

DOI: 10.4236/as.2012.35086                

Abstract

Irrigation studies provide a framework for evaluating agricultural production and the water resource management in locations where water is scarce. Field experiments were conducted at Barbalha- CE (northwestern Brazil) during 2004 and 2005 cropping seasons to investigate the effects of different irrigation water depths on the water-use efficiency and yield of the BRS 200-brown cotton cultivar (Gossypium hirsutum L.). Three irrigation treatments were applied: T₁ = 80%; T₂ = 100% and T₃ = 120% of the potential evapotranspiration (ET_p). The Bowen ratio-energy balance was used to obtain crop evapotrnaspiration (ET_c) while daily reference evapo-transpiration (ET_o) was obtained by the Penman-Monteith approach. Irrigation water was applied by a sprinkler system during both cropping seasons. The daily evapotranspiration ranged from 2.59 mm·day^-1 at the emergence to 5.89 mm·day^-1 at first square growth stage with an accumulated value of 528.7 mm as a mean of the two cropping seasons. The average crop coefficient across both years (2004-2005) was 0.90, with minimum and maximum values of 0.46 and 1.17 at emergency and first flower growth stages, respectively. The results also showed that the increase in irrigation from 80% to 120% of ETp resulted in a significant increase in the seed-cotton yield (from 2476.0 to 3289.5 kg·ha^-1), while lint percentage and water-use efficiency (WUE) were slightly reduced from 35.7% to 35.6% and from 0.60 to 0.53 kg·m^-3, respectively. These results suggests that the cotton crop (cultivar BRS-200 brown) reaches higher water-use efficiency when irrigated with 80% of the crop evapotrnaspiration obtained as a function of the reference evapotranspiration and the crop coefficient proposed by FAO. However, the maximum seed-cotton yield is obtained when irrigated with 120% of that crop evapotranspiration.

Keywords

Bowen Ratio; Crop Evapotranspiration; Irrigation Treatments; Seed-Cotton Yield

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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