Weighing Lysimeters for Developing Crop Coefficients and Efficient Irrigation Practices for Vegetable Crops

Large, precision weighing lysimeters are expensive but invaluable tools for measuring crop evapotranspiration and developing crop coefficients. Crop coefficients are used by both growers and researchers to estimate crop water use and accurately schedule irrigations. Two lysimeters of this type were installed in 2002 in central California to determine daily rates of crop and potential (grass) evapotranspiration and develop crop coefficients for better irrigation management of vegetable crops. From 2002 to 2006, the crop lysimeter was planted with broccoli, iceberg lettuce, bell pepper, and garlic. Basal crop coefficients, K-cb defined as the ratio of crop to potential evapotranspiration when the soil surface is dry but transpiration in unlimited by soil water conditions, increased as a linear or quadratic function of the percentage of ground covered by vegetation. At midseason, when groundcover was greater than 70% to 90%, K-cb was approximate to 1.0 in broccoli, 0.95 in lettuce, and 1.1 in pepper, and K-cb of each remained the same until harvest. Garlic K-cb, in comparison, increased to 1.0 by the time the crop reached 80% ground cover, but with only 7% of additional coverage, K-cb continued to increase to 1.3, until irrigation was stopped to dry the crop for harvest. Three weeks after irrigation was cutoff, garlic K-cb declined rapidly to a value of 0.16 by harvest. Yields of each crop equaled or exceeded commercial averages for California with much less water in some cases than typically applied. The new crop coefficients will facilitate irrigation scheduling in the crops and help to achieve full yield potential without overirrigation.