1984/12/01 by RJ French, JE Schultz · 8 citations
Agricultural and Biological Sciences · #Pasture and Agricultural Systems
paper · doi:10.1071/ar9840743
crossref issued 1984/12/01 · crossref published 1984/12/01 · crossref published-print 1984/12/01 · openalex publication_date 1984/12/01 · crossref created 2004/11/17 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · crossref deposited 2025/10/25 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28 · crossref indexed 2026/07/28
The relations between wheat yield and water use were determined from field measurements in South Australia. Highest production of dry matter was 37 kg ha-1 per mm of water use and of grain was 12.7 kg ha-1 per mm. More than 70% of the total water use occurred by anthesis. Time of sowing and soil water content at sowing had a big influence on yield. The loss of water by direct evaporation was estimated to be 110 mm, equal to about one-third of the water use. The maximum efficiency of water transpired was 55 kg ha-1 mm-1 for dry matter and 20 kg ha-1 mm-1 for grain. The efficiencies of most of the crops were below this level. Yield (Y), water use (W) and evaporation (Ep) could be fitted to the de Wit formula Y = m W/Ep, but the m factor varied with the proportion of water use that was lost by direct evaporation.