Evapotranspiration and crop coefficient of ‘Kent’ mango in an important fruit-growing hub in Brazil

Abstract

The ‘Kent’ mango is one of the main cultivars produced in the São Francisco valley. However, due to a lack of data, water management was carried out using coefficients from the Tommy Atkins cultivar. Thus, aiming to achieve greater water management efficiency, the aim of this study was to evaluate the growth, radiation and energy balance, evapotranspiration and coefficients of the ‘Kent’ mango in the lower-middle São Francisco valley in Brazil. The study was conducted in an orchard over two harvests between 2017 and 2018. The radiation and energy balance, evapotranspiration (ET_c) and crop coefficients (K_c) of the mango were estimated from micrometeorological data. The mean reference evapotranspiration (ET₀) and ET_c values were 5.47 and 4.40 mm day⁻¹ (vegetative growth, VG), 4.42 and 4.29 mm day⁻¹ (floral induction, FI), 4.08 and 3.48 mm day⁻¹ (floral induction + flowering, FI + FL), 4.51 and 3.63 mm day⁻¹ (fruit drop, FD) and 6.09 and 4.46 mm day⁻¹ (formation fruit + maturation fruit phase, FF + MF). Under the climate conditions of the São Francisco valley, K_c values of 0.80, 0.97, 0.85, 0.80 and 0.74 are recommended for the ‘Kent’ mango during the VG, FI, FI + FL, FD and FF + MF phases, respectively.