Determination of the actual crop evapotranspiration (ETc) during the crop growth is important for precise irrigation scheduling, sustainable development and environmentally sound water management. Development of a crop coefficient (Kc) can enhance ETc estimations in relation to specific crop phenological development. An experiment was conducted on sandy loam soil at Junagadh Agricultural University, Junagadh to determine growth stage specific Kc of wheat (GW-366) using drip irrigation under different land configurations (L1: broad bed furrow and L2: flat land) at different irrigation levels (I1: 1.0 ETc and I2: 0.8 ETc). Soil moisture sensors were utilized to estimate Actual crop evapotranspiration. Results revealed that adjusted FAO Kc predicts higher value than sensor-based Kc values under both land configurations. Broad bed furrow (BBF) land configuration observed lower Kc values compared to flat land configuration at all growth stages of wheat. Sensor based Kc-ini, Kc-dev, Kc-mid and Kc-end values of BBF observed 0.21 (7.26%), 0.59 (13.78%), 1.00 (7.27%) and 0.29 (9.48%) and 0.20 (8.43%), 0.55 (13.04%), 0.91 (8.18%) and 0.26 (9.48%) lower than flat land configuration. Overestimated adjusted FAO-Kc values caused a loss 106.18 mm and 89.43 mm precious water for wheat under BBF and flat land respectively.
Broad bed Furrow, Crop coefficient, Drip irrigation, Land configuration, Wheat