Irrigation scheduling strategies for pepper based on evaporation and reference evapotranspiration

The experiment with drip irrigated pepper was conducted at the Rimski Šančevi experimental field of the Institute of Field and Vegetable Crops in Novi Sad in 2019. The irrigation was scheduled on the basis of the water balance method. Two methods were used to compute the daily evapotranspiration of pepper (ETd): reference evapotranspiration (ETo) and evaporation from an open water surface (Eo). Crop coefficients (kc) and corrective coefficients (k) were used to convert ETo and Eo values into ETd. Kc and k were 0.3-0.4, 0.6-0.7, 0.9-1.1, 0.8-0.9 and 0.4, 0.7, 1.0 and 0.8 for initial stage, crop development, mid season, and late season, respectively. ETo was calculated by the Hargreaves equation. Eo values were measured by a Class-A pan located at a meteorological station near the experimental plot. Irrigation started when readily available water (RAW) in the 0.3 m soil layer was completely absorbed by plants. Differences in crop yield (Y) and irrigation water use efficiency (IWUE) obtained using Eo (42.58 t ha-1, 15.20 kg m-3) and ETo (40.78 t ha-1, 14.56 kg m-3) were not statistically different. Evapotranspiration rate was 364.2 mm and 337.3 mm in Eo and ETo variant, respectively. The fact that the differences in Y and IWUE between different calculations of ETd were not statistically significant indicates that both methods can be recommended for irrigation scheduling programs for pepper in the climatic conditions of the Vojvodina region. However, priority should be given to ETo due to the easy accessibility and reliability of data.