EVAPOTRANSPIRATION AND CROP COEFFICIENTS IN WHITE ASPARAGUS

Evapotranspiration (ET) and crop coefficients (K_c = ET/ET_o) were measured in white asparagus at the Agricultural Research Center of La Rioja (Spain, 42° 27′ N, 2° 17′ W, 280 m elev.). Crop evapotranspiration was measured daily in a water table lysimeter with asparagus growing in a 200×50 cm arrangement.
Daily evaporation E_o was measured in a class “A” evaporation pan and ET_o (Kp x E_o) was calculated.
Spears were harvested from the end of March until mid June.
The ten days average values of ET showed a similar trend in both years increasing rapidly as the ferns developed when the harvest was finished.
The seasonal ET values were found between 0.5–4.6 mm/d.
ET maximum values achieved 3.6 and 4.5 mm/d in the 4th and 5th years respectively.
For the two years mensual averages of Kc were positively correlated with the relative growth of asparagus.
Crop coefficients were 0.2–0.3 throughout the harvest period and increased to a 0.4 when the ferns grew up and reached 0.9–1.1 when the ferns were fully developed.
Water consumption during the two growing seasons were 274 and 294 mm respectively while lysimeter yields reached 11 and 13.2 t/ha.

II International Symposium on Irrigation of Horticultural Crops

A. Pardo, J. Arbizu, M.L. Suso

Asparagus officinalis, water consumption

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.1997.449.25