The present study aimed to determine crop coefficients and evaluate the productivity of onion under different irrigation levels. The experiment was conducted in the experimental field at DTCS/UNEB Juazeiro during the period from April to September 2011. For determining the ETc, daily measurements were made in evapotranspirometers. The ETo was obtained by the methods of the Class A pan (TCA) and Penman-Monteith (PM) and the Kc by: Kc = ETc/ETo. The experimental design was completely randomized with three treatments and seven replications. The examined variables were: transverse diameter, mean bulb weight, total production, commercial production, total soluble solids and titratable acidity. The Kc values found by taking as a basis the ETo determined by the TCA method with the Kp calculated using weather data obtained in situ, were very close to those determined by the PM method; the total productivity surpassed the national average by 122% for T1 (irrigation on the basis of ETc) and T3 (irrigation on the basis of ETo calculated according to PM) treatments and 86% for the T2 (irrigation on the basis of ETo calculated according to TCA) treatment; the irrigation management, based on the TCA method can provide high productivity, taking into account local climatic conditions.
crop evapotranspiration; reference evapotranspiration; climatic conditions
