Open AccessA climatological study of soil moisture under corn crop at Campina Grande (NE Brazil)
Author(s) -
K. Karuna Kumar,
Jose Antonio Tomas Da Silva,
Virginia De Fatima Bezerra
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
mausam
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 0252-9416
DOI - 10.54302/mausam.v48i3.4289
Subject(s) - environmental science , water content , irrigation , evapotranspiration , hydrology (agriculture) , moisture , precipitation , crop coefficient , crop , agronomy , geography , forestry , meteorology , geology , ecology , geotechnical engineering , biology
. Results of a climatological study of soil moisture under corn crop at Campina Grande (NE Brazil) are presented in this paper. Daily values of available moisture content during the crop growing period are evaluated for a period of 25 years. A six zone versatile soil moisture budget model is used for this purpose and approximately 5. 7.5, 12.5, 25, 25 and 25% of the available water capacity (AWC) are attributed to zones one to six respectively. Different root activity coefficients are assumed for the six zones in different growth stages and the dependence of these coefficients on moisture content is taken into consideration. The same moisture releasing characteristics are assumed for all soil zones. On rainy days moisture loss due to evapotranspiration is assumed to take place before precipitation. Four AWC values and three corn growing periods between March and September are considered in this study. A first order Markov chain model is applied to the daily soil moisture data. Soil moisture averages and probabilities are used to identify the optimum growing period for corn at this station. The irrigation requirements of the crop are briefly discussed.