Analysis of Soil Water Balance to Determine Planting Time of Crops on Dryland, Indonesia

Soil water mainly derived from rainfall is an important limiting factor to increase crop production. Water balance is used to see the availability of soil water for plants at a certain time. This study aims to determine water supplies, water use and potential water loss using plant water balance and designing cropping patterns on dryland in Ranomee to subdistrict. The analysis of soil water's availability is presented through monthly graphs from January to December in climatological terms. The data used in this analysis are the average amount of monthly rainfall and the average monthly temperature in 2016-2018 from the Meteorological, Climatological and Geophysical Agency in South Konawe Regency representing the study area, Ranomeeto subdistrict and the land area of this district. Ranomeeto Subdistrict of South Konawe has a 7 month growth period, from the 2nd November to the 2nd July. Analysis of the contribution of surface water to soil water content in the plant root zone shows that the Ranomeeto subdistrict of Konawe Selatan Regency has seven months-long growth period available from the second decade of November to the second decade of July. The planting time in the Ranomeeto subdistrict is in two periods of time, which is in November of decade three to February of decade three (during the rainy season) and May of decade one to July of decade one (during dry season).