Crop Water Requirement of Watermelon During Different Seasons

Crop water requirement may be defined as the depth of water consumptively used by a crop plus unavoidable irrigation application losses. The crop water requirement of watermelon is calculated using CROPWAT for Windows software 8.0 to calculate reference crop evapotranspiration using FAO (1994) Penman-Moneith methodology. The average crop water requirement of watermelon estimated from reference evapotranspiration (ETo) and crop coefficient (Kc) was found as 391 mm, 218 mm and 269.46 mm for sowing during summer, rainy and winter seasons respectively. The net irrigation requirement was found as 391 mm, 23.8 mm and 250.7mmfor sowing during summer, rainy andwinter seasons respectively. The maximum water requirement of crop was found in 3^rd (development) crop growth stage. The minimum water requirement of crop was found in 1^st (initial) crop growth stage.