Water requirement, crop coefficient and water-use efficiency of ‘Robusta’ banana under different soil covers and soil moisture regimes

Abstract

Provision and soil covers in a ‘Robusta’ banana plantation considerably reduced consumptive use of water and number of irrigations needed throughout the period of crop growth. Consumptive use ranged from 1024 mm under 800-gauge thick black polyethylene cover at 60% depletion of available soil moisture to 1560 mm under no cover treatment at 20% depletion. There was a perceptible increase in water-use efficiency under soil covers at low available soil moisture depletion levels. Soil covers reduced the periodic crop coefficient values compared with bare soil, indicating the reduced (23–33%) water requirement of banana plants under soil covers. High crop coefficient values recorded up to 5 months after planting indicated high consumptive use of water during that period. Using the crop coefficient values and corresponding period reference crop evapotranspiration, periodic water requirement of ‘Robusta’ banana for profitable production could be estimated.