Estimation of evapotranspiration, transpiration ratio and water-use efficiency from a sparse canopy using a compartment model

Using the Shuttleworth and Wallace (S–W) model, evapotranspiration (ET); transpiration ratio (T/ET), which is the ratio of transpiration (T) to ET; and water-use efficiency (WUE) were estimated for a sparsely planted sorghum canopy that was well irrigated. That model is designed to estimate separately the evaporation from soil and transpiration from crops. The evapotranspiration estimates for both short- and long-term measurement periods coincided closely with the Bowen ratio energy balance (BREB) measurements. The transpiration ratios were affected by the canopy resistances and the soil surface resistances during the day. The regression curve between leaf area index (LAI) and transpiration ratio suggests that LAI, less than 1.6, determined the transpiration ratio in the absence of water stresses by soil water drought and extreme weather condition. The WUEs for transpiration (WUEt) and evapotranspiration (WUEet), which are the total dry matter (TDM) production for 1 kg T and ET, reached the peaks of 9.0 and 4.5 g kg−1 H2O, respectively, in the end of July when the total dry matter increasing rate was greatest. These two WUEs degraded to less than zero in the end of August when the plant biomass decreased due to drying and death. The WUEs are largely affected by the TDM seasonal increment rate. Thus, in a sparse crop, the crop growth properties (i.e. LAI and TDM increment) mainly determine the crop water uses (i.e. the transpiration ratio and water-use efficiency) in the absence of water stresses.