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Direct weighing lysimeters to study the crop water use by physic nut (Jatropha curcas L.)

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Author(s):
Danilton Luiz Flumignan
Total Authors: 1
Document type: Doctoral Thesis
Press: Piracicaba.
Institution: Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Escola Superior de Agricultura Luiz de Queiroz (ESALA/BC)
Defense date:
Examining board members:
Marcos Vinicius Folegatti; Tarlei Arriel Botrel; Luís Fernando de Souza Magno Campeche; Patricia Angélica Alves Marques; Regina Celia de Matos Pires
Advisor: Marcos Vinicius Folegatti
Abstract

Recently, there is an increasing interest in using physic nut (Jatropha curcas L.) as a source of oil for biodiesel production. However, currently knowledge regarding its crop water requirement is scarce and constitutes one of the main gaps that limit its use as an agroenergy alternative. In addition, there is a general agreement that an increase in biodiesel production worldwide will bring additional pressure to water resources, what provokes to use water in agriculture in a more efficient way. So, this study had as objective to construct six direct weighing lysimeter that will be used to study the water use of physic nut conducted under sprinkler and drip irrigation, and without irrigation. These lysimeters were calibrated and tested for its sensibility to air temperature and wind. Furthermore, there was also compared the influence of using two different load cells on their quality. Two lysimeters were installed for each treatment, one using ALFA® load cells and other using HBM®. Each lysimeter was constituted by a steel tank with 1.955 m inner radius (12 m2) and 1.3 m of usable depth. They were encompassed by concrete walls, have a drainage system and were directly supported by three load cells. Both load cell models has a nominal capacity of 10,000 kg, with a lysimeter summed capacity of 30,000 kg. Lysimeters calibration procedure was done by adding and, after it, removing 1,000 kg of mass from then. Data were used to fit a linear regression model between the accumulated mass and the mean output value of the three load cells. For testing the sensibility to temperature, lysimeters mass were monitored till two consecutive days, under constant mass and with a barrier for protecting against wind interference. Data were compared to the temperature measured by the weather station and, also, by that measured by a datalogger and a thermohygrometer, which were installed inside the lysimeters pit. For testing to wind sensibility, there were constructed some trees prototypes using PVC pipes and raffia tarpaulin. One tree was installed on each lysimeter and, under constant mass, lysimeters mass were monitored during six consecutive days. Data were compared to the wind velocity, as measured by the weather station. All the six lysimeters constructed in this study presented adequate quality to be used for the determination of evapotranspiration on hourly and daily basis. For ALFA® lysimeters, the final measurement resolution was 0.0013 mm, being obtained with good precision, hysteresis, and low accuracy (standard error of 0.27 to 1.04 mm). HBM® lysimeters presented a final resolution of 0.00088 mm, good precision, few or no hysteresis, and high accuracy (standard error between 0.03 and 0.1 mm). All lysimeters proved to be not influenced by air temperature and wind on the determination of evapotranspiration, in spite of, in both, ALFA® and HBM® lysimeters, their measurement precision was linearly reduced with an increase in wind velocity. (AU)