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Consumptive water use response of maize to changes in environment and management practices: Sensitivity analysis of a model
Author(s) -
Terjung W. H.,
Hayes J. T.,
O'Rourke P. A.,
Burt J. E.,
Todhunter P. E.
Publication year - 1982
Publication title -
water resources research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.863
H-Index - 217
eISSN - 1944-7973
pISSN - 0043-1397
DOI - 10.1029/wr018i005p01539
Subject(s) - environmental science , evapotranspiration , relative humidity , irrigation , water use , hydrology (agriculture) , crop coefficient , growing season , atmospheric sciences , agronomy , meteorology , geography , ecology , geology , geotechnical engineering , biology
WATER, a parametric crop water use model, employs climatic data to calculate water consumption for a variety of crops, using a modification of the Penman equation which included specific crop and growth stage effects. The objective of this paper was to demonstrate the response of WATER, for a grain corn crop, to changes in a variety of important environmental and decision‐making inputs: air temperature, solar radiation, relative humidity, irrigation frequency, and amount of irrigation water applied. Five temperature, five solar radiation, and six relative humidity regimes were examined for an entire growing season. Also, five different water application schemes and four irrigation frequencies were included in this experiment. Additionally, the effect of different soil types, wind regimes, and groundwater depths on crop water requirements were investigated. These analyses were performed using four annual climatic scenario combinations. Among the results, evapotranspiration (ET) increased on the average by about 2.5%/1°C increase in air temperature. One percent change in solar radiation resulted in a 1.5% change in ET, while a similar change in relative humidity caused a 0.4% response in ET. Contrasting soil types, in addition to affecting irrigation frequency, were capable of changing the responding ET by over 10%.