Hydrology, Irrigation and Flood Management L4/T1 (Civil Engineering Department)

WRE 451
Hydrology, Irrigation and Flood Management

L4/T1 (Civil Engineering Department)
Badal Mahalder, PhD

Assistant Professor, WRE, BUET
Lecture 3: Introduction and Importance of Irrigation

Date: March 24, 2021
Cropping Pattern of Bangladesh
The crops in this country are grown throughout the year in three distinct cropping
seasons:
• The first is the “Kharif-I” season lasting from the end of March to May, which is a
moderately humid period.
• The second is Kharif-II season or the hot monsoon season, covering the period from
May to September, is characterized by high humidity and low solar radiation. More
than 80% of the total annual rainfall occurs in this period.
• Finally, we have the “Rabi” season from mid-October to early March, which is a cool,
dry winter season.
Cropping Pattern of Bangladesh
• The Kharif crops include rice, jute, sugarcane, sesame, mugbean, etc.
• Rabi crops include boro rice, wheat, potato, mustard, pulses, vegetables, spices, etc.
• 60 variations in cropping patterns in Bangladesh (Hossain, 1990). Most of the cropping
patterns are based on rice or have rice in common with other crops.
Water dependency of the crop seasons are:
• Kharif- I: Partially irrigation dependent

• Kharif II: Natural rainfall dependent
• Rabi: Irrigation dependent
Major Source of Irrigation Water in Bangladesh
• The major source of irrigation in Bangladesh is groundwater (covers about 76.5% of
the total irrigated area). Groundwater is abstracted through deep tube wells (DTW)
and shallow tube wells (STW).
• Groundwater in Bangladesh is available at comparatively shallow depths during the
period of August–October (at the end of the rainy season) and is lowest in the period
of April–May (at the end of the dry season).
• In Rajshahi, Bogra, Pabna, Mymensingh, and Dhaka, groundwater abstraction is
causing a large decline in groundwater levels during dry season.
• For maximizing the economic returns from the limited water resources available, it is
more advantageous to encourage the low water consuming crops.
• However, the cultural behavior could hamper the policy significantly.
Irrigation Expansion in Bangladesh
Source: Ali (2010)

Irrigation Expansion in Bangladesh
Source: Ali (2010)

Factors Affecting Irrigation Planning
• Soil • Commodity/product market

• Climate • National policy and priority
• Topography • Institutional infrastructure
• Water source • Economic factor
• Crop(s) to be cultivated • Environmental aspect
• Energy • Socio-cultural aspect
• Labor
• Capital
Application of Weather Forecasting in Agricultural
Decision Making
• Forecast of relevant components of climate variability in relevant periods, at an

appropriate scale, with sufficient accuracy and lead time for relevant decisions.
• Effective communication of relevant information.
• There should be existence of decision options that are sensitive to the incremental
information that forecasts, provide, and compatible with decision maker’s goals
and constraints.
• There should be institutional commitment and favorable policies.

Application of Weather Forecasting
The major fields of applications of weather forecast are:
• Determination of appropriate time for sowing or harvesting of crop.
• Based on weather forecasts, producers may adjust their inputs.
• Estimation of irrigation or drainage need (or other cultural operation) and preparedness
for that.
• Preparedness for any hazardous weather phenomena.
• Analysis in exploring decision options and their risks.
• Use of seasonal forecasts in commodity forecasting for government policy support and
for decision making in industry.
• Development of trade policies based on commodity forecast.
Agro-Climatic Indices
The most common agro-climatic indices are:
• Degree-Days or Growing-Degree-Days (GDD),
• Crop Heat Units (CHU),
• Heliothermal Units (HTU), and
• Photo-Thermal Units (PTU).

Degree-Days or Growing-Degree-Days (GDD)
• GDD is widely used for describing the temperature responses to growth and
development of crops.
• GDDs required to reach maturity (or to reach a particular phase) are calculated
following Nuttonson (1995):
Crop Heat Units (CHU)
Crop heat unit (CHU) for cereals may be calculated by the formula given by Cutforth and
Shaykewich (1990):
Heliothermal Units (HTU)
Heliothermal unit (HTU) is calculated by multiplying degree-days with daily actual

sunshine hours:
where SH is the daily actual sunshine hour.

Photo-Thermal Units (PTU)
Photo-thermal units (PTU) is the product of GDD and corresponding day length for that
day. On daily basis,
where “day length” refers to maximum possible sunshine hours.

Problem
Find out the GDD, CHU, HTU, and PTU for wheat crop for the following days using the data given
Climatic Potential Yield
• Crop yield in a particular environment is an interaction of genotype environment.
• The upper limit of crop production is set by the climatic conditions and the genetic
potential of the crop. Environmental potential can not be exploited unless the
genetic potential reaches to the environmental potential.
• Chang (1981) demonstrated that crop response to fertilizer application is reduced in
areas of low climatic yield potential.
• Crop production in an area can be better described as (Ghuman and Singh 1993):
Climatic Potential Yield

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WRE 451

Hydrology, Irrigation and Flood Management

Badal Mahalder, PhD

Lecture 3: Introduction and Importance of Irrigation

Water dependency of the crop seasons are:

• Kharif- I: Partially irrigation dependent

Source: Ali (2010)

Source: Ali (2010)

• Soil • Commodity/product market

• Forecast of relevant components of climate variability in relevant periods, at an

• Effective communication of relevant information.

• There should be institutional commitment and favorable policies.

The most common agro-climatic indices are:

• Degree-Days or Growing-Degree-Days (GDD),

• Crop Heat Units (CHU),

• Heliothermal Units (HTU), and

• Photo-Thermal Units (PTU).

Crop Heat Units (CHU)

Heliothermal Units (HTU)

Heliothermal unit (HTU) is calculated by multiplying degree-days with daily actual

where SH is the daily actual sunshine hour.

Photo-Thermal Units (PTU)

where “day length” refers to maximum possible sunshine hours.

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