Developing tools and information on crop water use and effective irrigation management for more profitable and sustainable avocado production

This study aimed at acquiring relevant information on evapotranspiration and developing more precise and representative crop coefficient values for ‘Hass’ avocados under different environments and cropping systems in California. Extensive data collection was conducted at five avocado sites located in major avocado production regions over a three-year period using cutting-edge ground- and remote-sensing technologies. A combination of eddy covariance and surface renewal techniques were utilized to measure actual crop evapotranspiration (ETc act), which were used to develop actual crop coefficient (Kc act) curves that were affected by various climate, crop canopy, slope, elevation, salinity, and soil management features. The results clearly illustrated that the water consumption of avocado orchards is affected by site-specific conditions.