Abstract
The sustainable management of water resources plays a key role in Mediterranean viticulture, characterized by scarcity and competition of available water. This study focuses on estimating the evapotranspiration and crop coefficients of table grapes vineyards trained on overhead “tendone” systems in the Apulia region (Italy). Maximum vineyard transpiration was estimated by adopting the “direct” methodology for ETp proposed by the Food and Agriculture Organization in Irrigation and Drainage Paper No. 56, with crop parameters estimated from Landsat 8 and RapidEye satellite data in combination with ground-based meteorological data. The modeling results of two growing seasons (2013 and 2014) indicated that canopy growth, seasonal and 10-day sums evapotranspiration values were strictly related to thermal requirements and rainfall events. The estimated values of mean seasonal daily evapotranspiration ranged between 4.2 and 4.1 mm·d−1, while midseason estimated values of crop coefficients ranged from 0.88 to 0.93 in 2013, and 1.02 to 1.04 in 2014, respectively. The experimental evapotranspiration values calculated represent the maximum value in absence of stress, so the resulting crop coefficients should be used with some caution. It is concluded that the retrieval of crop parameters and evapotranspiration derived from remotely-sensed data could be helpful for downscaling to the field the local weather conditions and agronomic practices and thus may be the basis for supporting grape growers and irrigation managers.
Highlights
Since crop parameters are very difficult to obtain in the open field without specific instruments, ETp is calculated in the routine irrigation management by multiplying ET0 by Kc, starting from an ET0 assuming an ideal crop with standard parameters and a
This study evaluates the crop coefficients and evapotranspiration of table grapes trained on a
The method is based on the FAO-56 model by using appropriate values of canopy variables such as the surface albedo and the Leaf Area Index (LAI) derived by means of multispectral satellite data, based on existing validated methodologies
Summary
In semi-arid regions of southern Europe, table grapes (Vitis vinifera L.) represent a key economic activity [1], where productivity, defined as the ratio between crop produced and water consumed [2,3], is directly associated with the vineyard water consumption and evapotranspiration [4] In this context, the accurate monitoring of irrigation water management, such as regulated deficit irrigation and partial root-zone drying irrigation, has emerged as a potential way to increase water-use efficiency while maintaining yields of high quality [5,6,7,8,9], with profitable economic benefits for the grape growers linking water and grape prices and quality of grapes [10]. These studies indicate significant variation on water requirements and more generally do not provide spatial trends of evapotranspiration, since the measured values are mostly restricted and influenced by a small footprint area [19]
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