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Crop yield response to water - Cra

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Lead AuthorsMartin Smith(formerly FAO, Land and WaterDivision, Rome, Italy;currently retired)Pasquale Stedu<strong>to</strong>(FAO, Land and Water Division,Rome, Italy)2. Yield <strong>response</strong> <strong>to</strong> <strong>water</strong>:the original FAO <strong>water</strong>production functionGeneral descriptionFAO addressed the relationship between crop <strong>yield</strong> and <strong>water</strong> use in thelate seventies proposing a simple equation where relative <strong>yield</strong> reductionis related <strong>to</strong> the corresponding relative reduction in evapotranspiration(ET). Specifically, the <strong>yield</strong> <strong>response</strong> <strong>to</strong> ET is expressed as:(1)⎛ ⎞⎜ 1−Y ⎛a⎟ = K y1−ET ⎞a⎜ ⎟⎝ Y x ⎠ ⎝ ET x ⎠where Y x and Y a are the maximum and actual <strong>yield</strong>s, ET x and ET a are themaximum and actual evapotranspiration, and K y is a <strong>yield</strong> <strong>response</strong> fac<strong>to</strong>rrepresenting the effect of a reduction in evapotranspiration on <strong>yield</strong>losses. Equation 1 is a <strong>water</strong> production function and can be applied <strong>to</strong> allagricultural crops, i.e. herbaceous, trees and vines.The <strong>yield</strong> <strong>response</strong> fac<strong>to</strong>r (K y ) captures the essence of the complex linkagesbetween production and <strong>water</strong> use by a crop, where many biological,physical and chemical processes are involved. The relationship has showna remarkable validity and allowed a workable procedure <strong>to</strong> quantify theeffects of <strong>water</strong> deficits on <strong>yield</strong>.This approach and the calculation procedures for estimating <strong>yield</strong> <strong>response</strong><strong>to</strong> <strong>water</strong> were published in the FAO Irrigation and Drainage Paper No. 33(Doorenbos and Kassam, 1979), which was considered one of FAO'smiles<strong>to</strong>ne publications, and were used widely worldwide for a broad rangeof applications.In this Chapter, the procedures used <strong>to</strong> quantify the <strong>yield</strong> <strong>response</strong> <strong>to</strong> <strong>water</strong>deficits using Equation 1 are briefly described. To get fully acquainted withthe original procedures, the K y use and related applications, the reader isreferred <strong>to</strong> the original publication.6crop <strong>yield</strong> <strong>response</strong> <strong>to</strong> <strong>water</strong>

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