(Instituto Agronômico (IAC), 2011-10) Pereira, Antonio Roberto; Camargo, Marcelo Bento Paes de; Nova, Nilson Augusto Villa
Crop coefficient (Kc) for coffee plantations was found to be linearly related to the leaf area index (L) up to 3, i.e., Kc = b L. The basic assumption is that for irrigated trees the water use per unit leaf area (ETLA) is equal to the reference evapotranspiration (ETo) expressed also on a unit leaf area basis of the reference surface (ETLA = ETo/Lo). As recommended by FAO-56 the leaf area index (Lo) for the hypothetical reference surface (grass) is equal to 2.88, then the most likely value is b=Lo-1 = 2.88-1 = 0.347. However, for L>3 (completely covered ground surface) Kc decreased from a peak value (~1.05) tending to an asymptotic low value around 0.7 for L > 6, but the linear model gives unrealistic Kc estimates; tentatively the empirical function Kc = 1.8 L-0.5 is offered here as an initial guess due to the lack of experimental results for the interval 3.5
