An Evapotranspiration Model for Nursery Plants Grown in a Lysimeter Under Field Conditions

Authors: HALİL KIRNAK, TED HENRY SHORT

Abstract: A modified combination model that used ambient temperature,relative humidity,solar radiation,air velocity and leaf area index (LAI) as inputs was developed for nursery plants, and its prediction was compared to the measured ET of the plant. A nursery plant of red maple (Acer rubrum) grown in a lysimeter under field conditions was used to test it. This modified combination model was shown to accurately estimate the evapotranspiration (ET) of a potted red maple (R^2=0.79). The most significant driving parameters for ET were solar radiation level and vapor pressure deficit (VPD). An exponential relationship between stomatal resistance and solar radiation for red maple was established.This study showed that a combination ET model involves both environmental conditions and plant canopy characteristic is the best way to predict evatranspiration rate of the nursery plants.

Keywords: Evapotranspiration, Acer rubrum, solar radiation, Vapor pressure deficit, Stomata, Evapotranspiration model, Nursery production.

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