The determination of crop water requirement of mango in the transitional zone of Ghana
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Date
2009-08-10
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Abstract
This study sought to determine the optimum crop water requirement of mango using meteorological data for the transitional agro-ecological zone of Ghana and make comparison of the various methods of crop water requirement determination or estimation.
The estimates could be useful in the design and management of irrigation systems. Mango production would offer or create employment for rural and urban dwellers. It would assist to minimize or reduce the rural-urban migration and supply some of the basic raw materials needed to feed fruit processing or agro-based industries in Ghana. It can be also used for afforestation and reforestation programmes in Ghana.
Meteorological data were collected from Ghana Meteorological Agency for selected locations in the transitional agro-ecological zones for the period 1976-2006. The locations were: Atebubu, Berekum, Ejura and Wenchi. The crop water requirement was estimated using Blaney-Criddle, Radiation, Penman, Thornthwaite and Pan Evaporation methods. From the results of the research, the least and highest optimum crop water requirement of mango using meteorological data were 880 mm and 1127 mm for Blaney-Criddle, 1224 mm and 1271 mm for Radiation, 1367 mm and 1446 mm for Penman, 1567 mm and 1780 mm for Thornthwaite respectively .The value of 1111 mm was for Pan Evaporation method. Also, the Thornthwaite method had the highest annual crop water requirement of mango with the values of 1694 mm in Atebubu, 1607 mm in Berekum, 1567 mm in Ejura and 1780 mm in Wenchi. However, the Blaney-Criddle method had the least values with 880 mm in Atebubu, 1021 mm in Berekum, 938 mm in Ejura and 1127 mm in Wenchi.
In conclusion, Penman is the standard or best method. It includes all the climatic factors that affect evapotranspiration. Blaney-Criddle, Radiation and Thornthwaite are temperature based methods. Blaney-Criddle and Radiation underestimate the crop water requirement. However, Thornthwaite overestimates the crop water requirement. Pan Evaporation is the direct method and shows the combined effect of the climatic factors
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A Thesis submitted to the Department of Agricultural Engineering,Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree
of MASTER OF SCIENCE IN SOIL AND WATER ENGINEERING.