Keywords: agricultural crops, water balance calculation, bioclimatic method, maximum air temperature, biothermal coefficients, operational irrigation regime

// Мелиорация.— 2019. – №2(88) – P 18—25

The method of water balance calculations for irrigation management with the use of an improved bioclimatic method for determining water consumption of irrigated crops is presented. When establishing the operating mode of irrigation to control the water consumption of plants, it is most convenient to use the maximum air temperature as an integral characteristic of the thermal energy resources of the atmosphere. The reaction of plants to a change in the maximum air temperature at different phases of their development is taken into account with the help of the biothermal coefficient. Its value is equal to the increment of water consumption of the irrigated crop when the maximum air temperature changes by one degree. This article presents the biothermal coefficients for the main agricultural crops irrigated in Belarus by decade of the growing season.