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We measured the tree transpiration of 9-year-old, Eucalyptus grandis x Eucalyptus urophylla clonal hybrid (GU) trees in the commercial forestry area of northern KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Transpiration was measured using the heat ratio method over two consecutive hydrological years (2019/20 and 2020/21) and up-scaled to a stand level. Leaf area index (LAI), quadratic mean diameter, and soil water content (SWC) were measured over the same period using an LAI 2200 plant canopy analyser, manual dendrometers and CS616 sensors, respectively. The depth to groundwater was estimated to be approx. 28 m, using a borehole next to our study site. Results showed that transpiration followed a seasonal pattern, with daily mean of 2.3 mm-tree-1·day-1 (range: 0.18 to 4.55 mm·tree-1·day-1) and 3.3 mm·tree-1·day-1 (range: 0.06 to 6.6 mm·tree-1·day-1) for 2019/20 and 2020/21, respectively. Annual GU transpiration was higher than that found by international studies under similar conditions, but was within the same transpiration range as Eucalyptus genotypes in the KwaMbonambi area. Plantation water productivity, calculated as a ratio of stand volume to transpiration, was higher than for other published studies, which was attributed to a very high productive potential of the study site. Multiple regression using the random forests predictive model indicated that solar radiation, SWC and air temperature highly influence transpiration. There is a high possibility that our GU tree rooting system extracted water in the unsaturated zone during the dry season. Due to the use of short-term results in this study, the impact of GU on water resources could not be quantified; however, previous long-term paired catchment studies in South Africa concluded that Eucalyptus has a negative impact on water resources. Further research is suggested with long-term measurements of transpiration and total evaporation and an isotope study to confirm the use of water by GU trees in the unsaturated zone. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accurate quantification of net irradiance of open water (Rn water) is of paramount importance for the estimation of open water evaporation, which is critical for the efficient management of water resources. Alternatively, model estimates of Rn water are often used when quality measurements of Rn water are not readily available for the water storage of interest. A Daily Penman, Monteith, Equilibrium Temperature Hargreaves-Samani (DPMETHS) model has been developed for the estimation of Rn water using land-based meteorological data. The DPMETHS model is a spreadsheet-based iterative procedure that computes Rn water using daily landbased meteorological measurements of solar irradiance (Rs land), minimum and maximum air temperatures (Tmin and Tmax), minimum and maximum relative humidity (RHmin and RHmax) and average wind speed (Uland). In this study, the DPMETHS model was evaluated using daily Rn water in-situ measurements acquired from 5 sites in both hemispheres, representing very different climatic conditions. Results showed reasonable model performance at all 5 sites, with the coefficient of determination (r2) values greater than 0.85 and root mean square error (RMSE) values ranging from 0.60 MJ·m-2 for Stratus Ocean (East Pacific Ocean) to 1.89 MJ·m-2 for Midmar Dam (South Africa). The results of this study suggested that the DPMETHS model can be reliably used to estimate Rn water for a wide range of climatic conditions. The performance of the DPMETHS model depends on the representativeness of the land-based meteorological data to the weather conditions above the open water surface. The DPMETHS model is user-friendly with minimal computational and data requirements that allows easy data handling and visual inspection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study was undertaken to derive textural and lumped site-specific calibration equations for Dirk Friedhelm Mercker (DFM) capacitance probes and evaluate the accuracy levels of the developed calibration equations for continuous soil moisture monitoring in three selected soil types. At each site, 9 probes (3 per plot) were installed in 2 m²plots, for continuous soil moisture measurements at 5 different depths (viz. 10, 20, 30, 40 and 60 cm) under dry, moist and wet field conditions. Textural site-specific calibration equations were derived by grouping the same soil textural classes of each site regardless of soil depth, while lumped site-specific calibration equations were derived by grouping all datasets from each site, regardless of soil depth and textural classes. Sensor readings were plotted against gravimetrically measured volumetric soil moisture (θv) for different textural classes as a reference. The coefficient of determination (r²) was used to select the best fit of the regression function. The developed calibration equations were evaluated using an independent dataset. The results indicated that all developed textural and lumped site-specific calibration equations were linear functions, with r² values ranging from 0.96 to 0.99. Relationships between the measured and estimated θv from calibration equations were reasonable at all sites, with r² values greater than 0.91 and root mean square error (RMSE) values ranging from 0.010 to 0.020 m³•m-3. The results also indicated that textural site-specific calibration equations (RMSE < 0.018 m³•m-3) should be given preference over lumped site-specific calibrations (RMSE < 0.020 m³•m-3) to attain more accurate θv measurements. The findings of this study suggest that once DFM capacitance probes are calibrated per site, they can be reliably used for accurate in-situ soil moisture measurements. The developed calibration equations can be applied with caution in other sites with similar soil types to attained reliable in-situ soil moisture measurements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sweet sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench) has been recognized globally as a potential biofuel crop for ethanol production. Sweet sorghum is a drought-tolerant crop that is widely adapted to different environmental growing conditions. The aim of this study was to determine the water use efficiency (utilisable yield per unit amount of water used) of drip-irrigated sweet sorghum (variety Sugargraze) under two different climatic conditions in South Africa. The sweet sorghum trials were conducted at Ukulinga research farm (University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg) and Hatfield experimental farm (University of Pretoria, Pretoria), South Africa. Field trials were conducted in two successive seasons, viz., 2010/11 and 2011/12. Seasonal water use was estimated using eddy covariance and surface renewal methods. Fresh and dry aboveground biomass yield, stalk yield and stalk Brix % were measured at final harvest. Theoretical ethanol yield was calculated from fresh stalk yield and Brix %. Water use for the two growing seasons was 415 mm at Ukulinga and 398 mm at Hatfield. The ethanol water use efficiency (WUE) values for the sweet sorghum at Ukulinga were 0.27 and 0.60 L.m-3 for 2010/11 and 2011/12 growing seasons, respectively. The ethanol WUE estimate of the sweet sorghum at Hatfield was 0.53 L.m-3 for the 2010/11 season and 0.70 L.m-3 for the 2011/12 growing season. WUE estimates of the sweet sorghum crop were higher for Hatfield compared to Ukulinga research farm. The results from this study showed that the WUE of sweet sorghum was sensitive to plant density. The WUE values confirm that sweet sorghum has high WUE under different climatic conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]