Preprint Article Version 1 Preserved in Portico This version is not peer-reviewed

A Smart Irrigation Tool to Determine the Effects of ENSO on Water Requirements for Tomato Production in Mozambique

Eduardo Gelcer
ORCID logo ,
Clyde W. Fraisse
* ,
Lincoln Zotarelli
,
Daniel Perondi
,
Hipólito A. Malia
,
Carvalho C. Ecole
,
Kati W. Migliaccio
Version 1 : Received: 29 September 2018 / Approved: 30 September 2018 / Online: 30 September 2018 (05:48:20 CEST)

A peer-reviewed article of this Preprint also exists.

Gelcer, E.; Fraisse, C.W.; Zotarelli, L.; Perondi, D.; Malia, H.A.; Ecole, C.C.; Migliaccio, K.W. A Smart Irrigation Tool to Determine the Effects of ENSO on Water Requirements for Tomato Production in Mozambique. Water 2018, 10, 1820. Gelcer, E.; Fraisse, C.W.; Zotarelli, L.; Perondi, D.; Malia, H.A.; Ecole, C.C.; Migliaccio, K.W. A Smart Irrigation Tool to Determine the Effects of ENSO on Water Requirements for Tomato Production in Mozambique. Water 2018, 10, 1820.

Abstract

Irrigation scheduling is used by growers to determine the right amount and timing of water application. In most parts of Mozambique, 90% of the total yearly precipitation occurs from November to March. The El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) phenomenon influences the climate in Mozambique and affects the water demand for crop production. The objectives of this work were to quantify the effects of ENSO phenomenon on tomato crop water requirements, and to create the AgroClimate irrigation tool (http://mz.agroclimate.org/) to assist farmers in improving irrigation management. This study was based on daily grid-based climate information from 1983 to 2016 from the Climate Forecast System Reanalysis. Daily crop evapotranspiration was calculated by Hargreaves equation and crop coefficients. This tool is available online and considers different planting dates, ENSO phases, and crop growing season lengths. Irrigation needs varied from less than 250 mm per growing cycle during winter to 550 mm during spring. Both El Niño and La Niña influenced the irrigation scheduling, especially from November to March. El Niño periods were related with increased water demand due to drier and warmer conditions while the opposite was observed for La Niña. The ENSO information might be used to understand climate variability and improve tomato irrigation scheduling in Mozambique.

Keywords

irrigation scheduling; Solanum lycopersicum; El Niño; water stress; decision support system; climate variability

Subject

Biology and Life Sciences, Agricultural Science and Agronomy

Copyright: This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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