Water requirements of pineapple crop grown in a tropical environment, Brazil

• Published in: Agricultural water management Vol. 88; no. 1; pp. 201 - 208
• Main Authors: de Azevedo, Pedro V., de Souza, Cleber B., da Silva, Bernardo B., da Silva, Vicente P.R.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Amsterdam Elsevier B.V 16-03-2007; Elsevier Science; Elsevier
• Series: Agricultural Water Management
• Subjects: Agricultural and forest climatology and meteorology. Irrigation. Drainage; Agricultural and forest meteorology; Agronomy. Soil science and plant productions; air temperature; Ananas comosus; Biological and medical sciences; Bowen ratio-energy balance; climatic factors; Crop coefficient; cultivars; developmental stages; dryland farming; Evapotranspiration; flowering; fruiting; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; General agronomy. Plant production; irrigation scheduling; Irrigation. Drainage; pineapples; plant morphology; rain; Rain-fed and irrigation systems; relative humidity; solar radiation; tropics; vegetative growth; Water balance and requirements. Evapotranspiration; water requirement; wind speed; Brazil; South America; America; Brazil, Paraiba; ASW, Brazil, Paraiba; Crop coefficient; Rain-fed and irrigation systems; Bowen ratio-energy balance; Evapotranspiration; Ananas comosus; Monocotyledones; Soil plant atmosphere relation; Rainfed agriculture; Environmental factor; Physical environment; Tropical climate; Evapotranspiration;Bowen ratio-energy balance;Crop coefficient;Rain-fed and irrigation systems; Bowen ratio; Climatic condition; Hot climate; Angiospermae; Water engineering; Bromeliaceae; Cropping system; Supplemental irrigation; Tropical crop; Production location; Agroclimatology; Ecophysiology; Energy balance; Micrometeorology; Fruit crop; Water requirement; Agrometeorology; Spermatophyta; Equatorial zone; Sprinkler irrigation
• ISSN: 0378-3774; 1873-2283
• DOI: 10.1016/j.agwat.2006.10.021

This research was conducted to determine the water requirements of the pineapple crop (
Ananas comosus L.), cv. “Pérola” grown in the Coastal table lands of Paraíba state, Brazil, using a sprinkler irrigation system as complementary water supply. A micrometeorological tower was mounted in a 90
m
×
90
m experimental area for determining energy fluxes in the interface plant/soil-atmosphere. Crop evapotranspiration (ET
c) was estimated by the Bowen ratio-energy balance and reference evapotranspiration (ET
o) by the Penman-Monteith method. The mean daily crop evapotranspiration was too variable throughout the pineapple crop development cycle, with values decreasing from (ET
c
=
4.6
mm
day
−1) in the vegetative growth to 3.5
mm
day
−1 in the fruits harvesting phenological stage. On the overall, ET
c was lower in the beginning of the vegetative growth and fruits harvest and higher in the middle of the productive cycle. The cumulative water used during the crop growing cycle was 1421
mm while the cumulative reference evapotranspiration was 1614.9
mm. Lower values of the crop coefficient (
K
c) were observed during the vegetative growth (phase II) stage while for the whole crop cycle,
K
c
=
0.88
±
0.06. This result can be used for a most efficient water use and to optimize production of the pineapple crop grown in tropical environments, particularly in Coastal table lands of Paraíba state, Brazil.