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Principles and Practices of Irrigation Management for Vegetables

M Dukes, L Zotarelli, G Liu and, E Simonne (March, 2015)

Summary

This section contains basic information on vegetable water use and irrigation management, along with some references on irrigation systems. Proper water management planning must consider all uses of water, from the source of irrigation water to plant water use. Therefore, it is very important to differentiate between crop water requirements and irrigation or production system water requirements. Crop water requirements refer to the actual water needs for evapotranspiration (ET) which are related to soil type and plant growth, and primarily depend on crop development and climatic factors which are closely related to climatic demands. Irrigation requirements are primarily determined by crop water requirements, but also depend on the characteristics of the irrigation system, management practices, and the soil characteristics in the irrigated area.