Controles biofísicos da evapotranspiração em cultivo de feijão-caupi sob diferentes regimes hídricos no Nordeste Paraense, Brasil

Abstract

The cowpea (Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp.) Is one of the main legumes grown in Brazil, however, the crop has a low average productivity, mainly due to the climatic conditions that represent one of the main limiting factors of the productivity of this culture. Although cowpea is a relatively drought tolerant species, water deficit can cause a considerable reduction in productivity, characterizing it as one of the major barriers to crop consolidation in Brazil. The exchange of water vapor between the crop and the atmosphere is controlled by the climatic conditions and surface characteristics. Therefore, the objective of this study was to analyze the variations of the decoupling factor of the atmosphere for the irrigated cowpea during the reproductive phenological stages of the crop in northeast of Para. The study was conducted in the municipality of Castanhal, Northeast of the state of Pará, in cowpea cv. BR3-Tracuate, in the years 2013, 2014 and 2015 submitted to four treatments of irrigation slides (T100 - replacement of 100% of crop evapotranspiration (ETc); T50 - 50% replacement of ETc; T25 - 25% of ETc and T0 - 0% replacement of ETc). The meteorological data were collected by sensors installed in a micrometeorological tower located in the center of the experimental area. The following meteorological variables were monitored: air temperature and humidity, incident solar radiation, atmospheric pressure, wind speed, precipitation and soil moisture. The biosphere-atmosphere interaction in the processes of vegetal evapotranspiration that allows to distinguish the factors that influence the exchange of water vapor with the atmosphere was estimated by the decoupling factor (Ω). The values of Ω were always higher than 0.5 for all the treatments tested and in the three years of study, evidencing a moderate to high decoupling between the culture and the atmosphere, so that the water vapor exchange process was controlled by the energy supply, rather than stomatal control. However, for the treatment without irrigation this control was less expressive.