Crop coefficient and water requirement of prickly pear in the Agreste region of Alagoas state, Brazil

Jesiele S Divincula,Marcio A L Dos Santos,Luan W Dos Santos,Daniella P Dos Santos,Cinara B Da Silva

doi:10.1590/1807-1929/agriambi.v23n12p925-929

Abstract

ABSTRACT Prickly pear cultivation has played an important role in the Brazilian livestock farming, being used as forage for animals in the Northeast region, especially during the drying season, because it is an excellent source of water. Thus, the objective of this study was to estimate the crop coefficient and water requirement of prickly pear in the Agreste region of Alagoas state, Brazil. Prickly pear crop evapotranspiration (ETc) was determined using five drainage lysimeters, made of polyethylene with dimensions of 0.35 x 0.40 m (side and depth). Four soil layers were separated and put into the lysimeters in the opposite sequence, in order to maintain it as close as possible to the initial soil structure. The reference evapotranspiration (ETo) was estimated by the Penman-Monteith, Hargreaves-Samani and FAO-Radiation methods, using climatic data from the meteorological station of the Instituto Nacional de Meteorologia (INMET) in the city of Arapiraca, AL, Brazil. Crop coefficient (kc) was calculated by the ratio between ETc and ETo. The average kc obtained was 0.72, 0.84 and 0.48 for the Penman-Monteith, Hargreaves-Samani and FAO-Radiation methods, respectively. Keeping the soil under field capacity during the experimental period, the total crop evapotranspiration was 637.84 mm, with daily value equal to 4.22 mm d-1.

Highlights

Prickly pear cultivation has played an important role in the Brazilian livestock farming, being used as forage for animals in the Northeast region, especially during the drying season, because it is an excellent source of water
Pear belongs to the Cactaceae family, which has as its main characteristic the modification in the photosynthetic process, called the Crassulacean Acid Metabolism (CAM)
Despite its high potential as food for human, cosmetic industry, biofuel production and others, prickly pear has been basically used as animal feed, especially during periods of long drought, when there is a shortage of pasture (Bezerra et al, 2014)

Summary

Introduction

Pear belongs to the Cactaceae family, which has as its main characteristic the modification in the photosynthetic process, called the Crassulacean Acid Metabolism (CAM). It has peculiar characteristics, such as the absence of leaves and photosynthetic apparatus located in the cladodes (Arruda et al, 2005). Pereira et al (2015) emphasize that, in regions where water availability is insufficient to achieve the ideal conditions for prickly pear cultivation, the use of irrigation is recommend, and evapotranspiration is an important parameter to determine crop water needs (Souza et al, 2011). Crop coefficient (kc) is the ratio between crop evapotranspiration (ETc) and reference evapotranspiration (ETO), being determined for each phenological stage of the crop (Allen et al, 1998)

Objectives

Methods

Results