If you want to know how much water your crops need, you need to know the ET or evapotranspiration value of your field. ET is a value based on the amount of water that the plant consumes by transpiration along with evaporation from the soil. Altogether it represents the fields' water consumption and your irrigation needs.
Reference evapotranspiration’ (ETO) is calculated based on meteorological data combining temperature, humidity, wind speed and radiation. ETO is based on the evapotranspiration from a reference grass surface. Since every plant transpires a different amount of water you will need to apply a crop factor that represents your crop type and stage to the reference ETO value, and get your very own ETC, the amount water consumed by a specific crop and crop stage , i.e. ETO*KC=ETC
ET increases with temperature, solar radiation, and wind speed. ET decreases with increasing humidity.
To calculate ETO, you need measurement of weather variables from a weather station. But with our web-based app, you don’t need to own a weather station. The app acts like your private weather station giving you the exact information about your field's water consumption and irrigation needs.
It takes out the guesswork and assists with improved irrigation scheduling based on actual water needs of different crops. It is the only free online tool that allows you to plan ahead your irrigation program by giving you ETO forecasts and not only historical data.
Want to give it a try?Just define your field location and the app will calculate all weather parameters based on accurate GIS weather services. You get the ETO for each day along with an updated weekly forecast. Now you can plan ahead and provide your crop exactly what it needs.
You can create multiple virtual fields to monitor ETO on all your crops. Multiply the ETO value by the crop factor (KC) according to your crop type and its development stage, to get the actual and the expected water consumption (ETC) of your field.
The formula is simple:
ETO (from the app) x Kc (Crop factor) = the daily water consumption (ETC)
Keep an eye on your crop water requirements. Get started today!
This web application provides ETO estimations based on the location entered by the user. Data accuracy is subject to topography and location. Accumulated ETO of more than 3 days will be usually more accurate than daily ETO estimations.
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