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General irrigation efficiency for field water management

Abstract:

On-farm water management systems are traditionally evaluated using a set of performance indices which are inconvenient for evaluation and comparison. We propose a general efficiency (E(g)) which is defined as the ratio of crop transpiration to the sum of the volume of applied water and the volume of deficit. E(g) combines the characteristics of traditionally used irrigation efficiencies: application efficiency (E(a)), storage efficiency (E(s)) and the Christiansen's coefficient of uniformity (U(c)). Thus, it is possible to compare the performance of different water application systems and/or design and management scenarios using a single index. The relationships of E(g) vs. E(a), E(s) and U(c) are also presented using a transpiration fraction (α) which is defined as the ratio of transpiration to evapotranspiration.