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Transpiration Evaluation of Corn Grown on a Plastic-Covered Lysimeter¹

ABSTRACT

Corn grown on plastic-covered monolith lysimeters at Coshocton showed that a very good crop was produced using only the water stored in the soil. A yield of 125 bushels per acre was obtained by using only 8.5 inches of water from the soil. From June 6 to September 9 when the cover was in place, estimated evaporation and measured transpiration amounts were an approximate 45:55 ratio. For the entire growing season, May 1 to September 9, it was estimated that the evapotranspiration would be composed of 56% evaporation and 44% transpiration. Estimated soil moisture evaporation was compared with actual pan evaporation. The ratio of soil to pan evaporation was found to vary from nearly 1 when the soil was moist and the cover scanty to a very small figure when the soil was dry and with maximum canopy shading.

Water-use efficiency was greatly increased by use of the plastic cover because loss of water by evaporation was eliminated. The above average temperatures and increase of apparent condensation on the plastic-covered lysimeter are discussed.

Stopping evaporation while permitting normal infiltration amounts resulted in increased percolation of 2.19 inches during the corn season. Residual effect on percolation noted during the normal recharge season that followed was only 0.33 inch.

¹ Contribution from the Soil and Water Conservation Research Division, ARS, USDA, Coshocton, Ohio, in cooperation with the Ohio Agr. Exp. Sta. The authors gratefully acknowledge the assistance of D. L. Brakensiek, ARS, Coshocton, in this study. Presented before Div. VI, Soil Science Society of America, Aug. 5, 1958, at Lafayette, Ind.

² Project Supervisor, ARS, Coshocton, Ohio; Soil Scientist, ARS, Urbana, Ill.; and Soil Scientist and Analytical Statistician, ARS, Coshocton, Ohio, respectively.

Received for publication August 18, 1958. Accepted for publication September 29, 1958.