Evapotranspiration and Water Use Efficiency of Taro

ABSTRACT EVAPOTRANSPIRATION (ET) and water use efficiency were determined from lysimeters installed within a taro field. The ET from taro varied from 2.0 to 6.5 mm/day. About 3000 to 4300 kg of water was required to produce 1 kg of dry biomass (DB), and the water required to produce 1 kg of tuber yield (TY) ranged from 1400 to 1900 kg. The relationship between DB and ET was found to be DB = -27.7 + 25.8(10-3)ET (r2 = 0.95) and the TY was related to ET as TY = -60.5 + 56.3(10-3)ET {r^ = 0.92), where the units of yields and ET are t/ha and mm, respectively.