WATER REGIME OF CORN IN A DRY AREA, IN PARTICULAR RATES OF EVAPORATION

Abstract

The importance of water in food production requires more efficiently used. The State of Baja California Sur is characteristic of the semi-arid: scarcity of water, variation of precipitation and overexploited aquifers. The objective of this research was to determine the rate of evaporation to calculate the water requirements of maize. Was planted on 14 December 2004 in the agricultural field of the Autonomous University of Baja California Sur is located within 240 10 'N and 1100 19' LW. Soil texture is sandy loam with a field capacity d 13%, wilting point of 7.4% and bulk density of 1.6 g cm-3. The quality of irrigation water is C4S2.The treatments were 70, 85, 100 and 115 percent of the evaporation measured in the evaporation tank type ";A";. The witness plate was calculated by the method of Blaney and Criddle: 492.25 mm. Evaporation during the culture period was 712 mm. The highest yield, 9.271 t ha-1, was obtained with 100% evaporation, and increased water productivity of 2.96 kg m-3, with 85%.