A comparative study of crop evapotranspiration estimation in maize using empirical methods, pan evaporation and satellite-based remote sensing technique

Abstract

A research study was conducted at the Agricultural College and Research Institute, Coimbatore to estimate the evapotranspiration (ET) of maize crop (Zea mays) over 2 consecutive seasons in 2022-2023. Among the different methods used to estimate crop evapotranspiration, the Food and Agricultural Organization Penman-Monteith model (FAO P-M) is widely recognized as the standard approach for ET estimation. This study aimed to compare the effectiveness of three alternative methods - Thornthwaite (TW), NDVI-based and pan methods against the FAO Penman-Monteith (P-M) model in estimating maize evapotranspiration. Meteorological data were collected from the TNAU weather station spanning the period from 2022 to 2023.The performance of the estimation methods was assessed using statistical metrics such as coefficient of determination (R2), root mean squared error (RMSE), percentage error and mean bias error. The findings revealed that the NDVI-based method, relying on satellite data, provided higher accuracy in estimating maize evapotranspiration compared to the FAO PM method. Specifically, the NDVI-based method achieved the highest coefficient of determination (R2) of 0.87 and 0.89, the lowest RMSE of 12.44 mm/month and 15.5 mm/month, the lowest percentage error of 4.8 % and 9.00 % and the lowest mean bias error of 5.5 and 7.85 for the first and second seasons respectively. This study highlights the effectiveness of the NDVI-based ET estimation method for accurately assessing maize evapotranspiration. While the FAO-56 Penman-Monteith method is highly regarded for its accuracy in both theoretical and practical contexts, the comparative evaluation presented in this paper offers valuable insights for selecting alternative methods that require less data, particularly in regions with limited data availability.