Estimating cucumber crop coefficients under different greenhouse microclimatic conditions

This study aimed to determine cucumber crop coefficients under different greenhouse microclimatic conditions, parameterizing the Priestley-Taylor reference evapotranspiration model. Crop evapotranspiration was directly measured with the use of lysimeters, and crop coefficients were computed following the two-step climate FAO 56 methodology. Greenhouse compartments (i.e., cooled or uncooled) showed reference evapotranspiration differences of up to 12% in an autumn-winter crop. The results presented cucumber crop coefficient values from the initial to the late-season growth stages from 0.45 to 0.94 depending on the greenhouse climate. Based on the greenhouse hourly microclimatic variation of K_C, it is recommended not to apply a K_C as a constant for transpiration estimation even at greenhouses located within the same region Regression analysis relating crop coefficients with leaf area revealed very high correlation coefficients for the equations tested. The results indicated that evapotranspiration can be modeled satisfactory based on a significant relationship between crop coefficient and simple measurements of the leaf area index (i.e., K_C = 0.447 × LAI).