A preliminary study on scheduling irrigation with can evaporimeters

Irrigation scheduling was carried out for wheat and maize grown in a semi-arid region, using cumulative pan evaporation (CPE). Scheduling of 60 mm depth of irrigation when CPE was 60 mm ( IW CPE = 1.00 ) was found to be optimum for wheat, while 60 mm depth of irrigation when CPE was 50 mm ( IW CPE = 1.20 ) was found to be optimum for maize. Cumulative evaporation from 1 l ‘Cans’ (CCE), exposed above these crops, was recorded simultaneously. The ratios CCE CPE were found to increase with the advance of the season. The ratios were higher over maize than over wheat. The CCE during the different stages of crop growth varied from 60.6 to 69.0 mm in wheat and from 51.5 to 94.0 mm in maize.