Resumen de Water requirements of new citrus orchards in “Jiguaní” Agricultural Enterprise

Kaddiel Fernández Hung, Pável Vargas Rodríguez, Jorge Rolando Cueto Rodríguez, Oscar Nemesio Brown Manrique

• Introduction: The planting of 1 200 ha of citrus fruits is planned in the “Jiguaní” Agricultural Enterprise and, for the design and subsequent management of the irrigation systems, it is essential to previously establish the water needs of the crop.

  Objective: Calculate the water needs of citrus orchards using the procedures outlined by FAO-56, applying the most recent update of the Allen and Pereira (A&P) approach.

  Method: To calculate the water needs of the crop, the ETo × Kc approach established by FAO-56 was followed. Within this, the ETo values were calculated using the Hargreaves-Samani equation and those of Kc, from the update of the A&P approach.

  Results: Water needs vary between 1.0 and 1.9 mm d-1 for young orchards, from 1.7 to 3.5 mm d-1 for high-density adult plantations and low trees, and from 2.2 to 4.3 mm d-1 for tall trees.

  Conclusions: The pertinence of the A&P approach to estimate the Kcb and Kc coefficients to determine the water consumption of orchards benefited with localized and high-frequency irrigation techniques was corroborated.