Crop water requirement of rice in different agroclimatic zones of Jharkhand

Abstract

The crop water requirement of rice in different agroclimatic zones of Jharkhand, India was estimated using the CROPWAT 8.0 and CLIMWAT 2.0 models with data collected through NASA data-access-viewer on climate, soil, crop, and water availability.  The evapotranspiration (ETo), effective rainfall (Peff), and crop water requirement (CWR) for the four zones of the Jharkhand State were calculated. Results revealed that the reference evapotranspiration (ETo) varied from 420.4 mm to 516.5 mm during the crop growing season of rice in different zones. The effective precipitation varied from 748.4 mm to 760.8 mm. The crop water requirement of rice varied from 482.5 mm to 592.4 mm. Effective rainfall was sufficient to meet the water requirement of rice in most of the zones except Alluvial zone wherein the net irrigation water requirement was only 67.6 mm.