Rangeland Ecology & Management

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Crop coefficients for rangeland
Author
Wight, J. R.
Hanson, C. L.
Publisher
Society for Range Management
Publication Year
1990-11-01
Body

Crop coefficients (Kc) provide a means of relating evapotranspiration (ET) to standard references such as pan evaporation or other climatic based reference ET’s (ET = Kc*reference ET). They have been used extensively in irrigated agriculture but only limitedly on rangelands. This study used lysimeter-measured ET to determine Kc’s for conditions where water was nonlimiting for both transpiration (T) and soil water evaporation (E) and transpiration coefficients (Tc) for conditions where E was minimal and water was nonlimiting for T. Growing season ET was measured daily with hydraulic lysimeters from mixed grass, shortgrass, and sagebrush-grass plant communities near Newell, South Dakota; Gillette, Wyoming; and Reynolds, Idaho, respectively. From seasonal plots of daily ET/reference ET, lysimeter-measured ET, and daily precipitation, time periods were identified, following periods of precipitation, that met the conditions for determining Kc and Tc values. The Kc values were relatively constant among the 3 study sites and over most of the growing season ranging from 0.75 to 0.90. Maximum Tc varied among years with most of the values occurring within the 0.40 to 0.60 range. This material was digitized as part of a cooperative project between the Society for Range Management and the University of Arizona Libraries. The Journal of Range Management archives are made available by the Society for Range Management and the University of Arizona Libraries. Contact lbry-journals@email.arizona.edu for further information. Migrated from OJS platform August 2020

Language
en
Resource Type
Text
Document Type
Journal Issue/Article
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
10.2307/4002349
Additional Information
Wight, J. R., & Hanson, C. L. (1990). Crop coefficients for rangeland. Journal of Range Management, 43(6), 482-485.
IISN
0022-409X
OAI Identifier
oai:repository.arizona.edu:10150/644842
Journal Volume
43
Journal Number
6
Journal Pages
482-485
Journal Name
Journal of Range Management
Keywords
lysimetry
evaporation
evapotranspiration
measurements
water requirements
estimation
transpiration
South Dakota
pastures
Idaho
Wyoming
rangelands