Water deficiency during the growing period of summer crops is the main limiting factor for optimum crop production in most semi-arid areas of South Africa. Water requirements of the crop depend mainly on the nature and stage of the crop and the atmospheric demand. To assess crop performance based on water available to the crop during the growing season the water requirement satisfaction index (WRSI) was developed by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) as documented in the FAO Plant and Protection Paper 73. In this study, the water satisfaction for dryland maize production in Frankfort was investigated using the FAO WRSI to determine the optimum dates which minimizes crop failure due to water deficiency.
Reference:
Moeletsi, ME, Walker, S, Hamandawana, H and Landman, WA. Water satisfaction analysis for dryland maize production in Frankfort. Proceedings of the 26th South African Society for Atmospheric Sciences Annual Conference, Gariep Dam, 20-22 September 2010, pp 70-71
Moeletsi, M., Walker, S., Hamandawana, H., & Landman, W. (2010). Water satisfaction analysis for dryland maize production in Frankfort. SASAS. http://hdl.handle.net/10204/5711
Moeletsi, ME, S Walker, H Hamandawana, and WA Landman. "Water satisfaction analysis for dryland maize production in Frankfort." (2010): http://hdl.handle.net/10204/5711
Moeletsi M, Walker S, Hamandawana H, Landman W, Water satisfaction analysis for dryland maize production in Frankfort; SASAS; 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/10204/5711 .
