Evapotranspiration and Crop Coefficient of Ratoon Rice Crop Determined by Water Depth Observation and Bayesian Inference

• Main Authors: Shutaro Shiraki, Thin Mar Cho, Yutaka Matsuno, Yoshiyuki Shinogi
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2021-08-01
• Series: Agronomy
• Subjects: ratoon cropping; model estimation; irrigation planning; Myanmar
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4395/11/8/1573

Actual crop evapotranspiration (ET) and crop coefficient (Kc) of ratoon rice crop, which are necessary for irrigation planning, have been hardly reported. ET can be directly measured by lysimeter and eddy covariance but it is expensive, so it remains difficult to determine ET, especially in developing countries. The focus of this study was to evaluate the ET and Kc of ratoon cropping in a tropical region of Myanmar using a simplified method. Our method combined the manual observation of water depth in concrete paddy tanks and the ET model estimation using Bayesian parameter inference. The ET and Kc could be determined using this method with an incomplete observation dataset. The total ET of ratoon was 60–70% less than that of the main crop, but this difference was mainly attributed to climate conditions in each cultivation. The Kc regression curve between transplanted rice and ratoon crops was different because of the tillering traits. The results suggest that irrigation scheduling of ratoon cropping in the initial growth stage should take high crop water requirements into account. In addition, the productivity of ratoon crop is equivalent to transplanted rice, which was determined for cultivation in experiment conditions of small concrete tanks. Therefore, further study on ratoon in Myanmar is necessary for clarifying the viability of ratoon cropping.