IRRIGATION ENGINEERING CE-431 L

Week 2
 Water requirements of a crop or generally referred to as crop water
requirement (CWR) is the total quantity required by the crop in a given
period of time for normal growth under field conditions.
 Time period from sowing to harvesting is called crop period.
 Time period from first watering of a crop after sowing to the last watering
before harvesting is called base period.
 Base period is slightly less than crop period but for practical purposes they
are considered same.
 Interval of time between two watering of a crop is termed as frequency of
irrigation or rotation period.
 Quantity of water required by a crop for its full growth may be expressed as
hectare-meter, acre-feet, million cubic meter or million cubic feet etc.
 Depth of water required by a crop for proper growth under field conditions is
called delta of crop (Δ).
 Duty of water is the no hectares (acres) of land irrigated for full growth of a
crop by supply of 1 m3/sec (1 cusecs) of water during the entire base period.
 Water allowance is discharge in m3/sec or cusecs required to irrigate 100
hectares or 1000 acres. Expressed in cumecs / 100 hetares or cusecs / 1000
acres.
 Gross Command Area (GCA) is the total amount of area which needs to be
irrigated. It also includes the area which cannot be cultivated e.g. villages,
roads, utility etc. It is total area used for design consideration. This may be
cultivated or non cultivated area depending upon the condition and
topography.
 Culturable Command Area (CCA) is the effective area which is culturable or
the area that is cultivated out of total command area.
 Non Culturable Command Area (NCCA) is the area which is not cultivated.
 Consumptive Use (Cu) is the amount of water required by a crop for its
vegetated growth to evapo-transpiration and building of plant tissues plus
evaporation from soils and intercepted precipitation. It is expressed in terms
of depth of water.
 Hargreave’s Method for determining consumptive use
Cu = K Ep
Where;
Cu = Consumptive Use
Ep = Pan evaporation
K = Consumptive use co-efficient
 Rabi Season (October to March) Kharif Season (April to September):
Crop Consumptive Use (cm) Crop Consumptive Use (cm)

Wheat 37 Cotton 25-40

Gram 30 Maize 45
Barley 30 Rice 125-150
Potato 60-90 Sugar Cane 90
Sugar cane 90
Fodder 40
Oil seed 45
Berseen 70
 Pan evaporation Ep values can be Month mm/day mm/month

determined experimentally by measuring Jan 0.5 15

Feb 0.6 18
evaporation of water from the standard
March 1.5 45
class A pan (1.2 m in diameter, 25 cm deep Apr 1.7 51
May 2 60
and raised 15 cm above ground)
Jun 2.3 69
 The table on this slide is giving Ep values to Jul 2.5 75

be used in our design. Aug 2.2 66

Sep 2.1 63
Oct 1.8 54
Nov 1.6 48
Dec 1.4 42
 Consumptive use co-efficient K is different for different crops and is different
for the same crop at different places. It also varies with the crop growth and
Is different at different crop staged for the same crop.
 After identification of area a cropping pattern is to be decided.
 Cropping pattern is how many crops and how much area is to be cultivated.
 It can be prepared in tabular form from which discharge requirement for
each season (Winter (Rabi) or Summer (Kharif) can also be estimated.
 Common Rabi (October to March) crops are wheat, gram, barley etc.
 In Kharif (April to October) season commonly rice, cotton and maize etc are
grown.
 Sugar cane and fodder are farmed in both the seasons.
 Total growing period Total growing period
Crop Crop
(days) (days)
Alfalfa 100-365 Melon 120-160
Barley/Oats/ Wheat 120-150 Millet 105-140
Bean, green 75-90 Onion, green 70-95
dry 95-110 dry 150-210
Citrus 240-365 Pepper 120-210
Cotton 180-195 Rice 90-150
Grain/small 150-165 Sorghum 120-130
Lentil 150-170 Soybean 135-150
Maize, sweet 80-110 Squash 95-120
grain 125-180 Sunflower 125-130
 Estimate consumptive use of crops applying Hargreave’s method.
 Decide cropping pattern and crop water requirements for your irrigation
scheme.
 Decide design discharge.
 Determine water allowance, outlet command area and no of outlets.