Quantification of water requirement of some major crops under semi-arid climate in Turkey

The Southeastern Anatolian Region of Turkey is located in semi arid climate zone and therefore requires an efficient water use. Well-planned irrigation with optimum water required by the crops is essential for the limited water resources of the region. The numerical tool CROPWAT of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) was used for modelling efficient irrigation of local crops pistachio, olive, almond and grape without reducing the yield. Local climatic, soil, plant and rainfall information were used as inputs to CROPWAT model to predict the reference evapotranspiration (ET(o)) values. The crop water requirement (CWR) for pistachio, olive, almond, and grape was calculated as 1,294.0 mm, 659.4 mm, 790.2 mm, and 752.0 mm, respectively, The number of irrigation needed during growth stages was determined as eight for pistachio, three for olive, six for almond and five for grape.