Abstract

Field experiments were carried out to investigate the suitability of empirical formulae of climatological approach for irrigation scheduling, improving the water use efficiency in early maturing sugarcane during main and special seasons (1993-95) at Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore. For scheduling irrigation based on Blaney - Criddle method, ETC was worked out with thirty years mean climatic data. For evaluating various empirical methods including Blaney Criddle methods, the actual weather parameters that prevailed during the cropping period alone were considered. The estimated ETC was 1223 and 1345 mm for main and special seasons respectively. Blaney Criddle empirical method of climatological approach promises to be suitable for irrigation scheduling in early maturing sugarcane. For high WUE scheduling irrigation at 100 per cent ETC during germination and early tillering followed by at 75 per cent ETC during subsequent growth phases of cane could be adopted. Climatological methods of predicting ETC and scheduling irrigation for sugarcane could be exploited for various agro climatic zones of Tamil Nadu for efficient water budgeting.

Keywords: Sugarcane, Blaney-Criddle Climatological approach. Evapotranspiration, Irrigation scheduling