TRANSPIRATION

TRANSPIRATION PROCESS
 The process by which water leaves the body of a
living plant and reaches the atmosphere as water
vapour.
 Transpiration also includes a process called
GUTTATION, which is the loss of water in
liquid form from the uninjured leaf or stem of the
plant, principally through water stomata.
 Studies have revealed that about 10 percent of
the moisture found in the atmosphere is released
by plants through transpiration. The remaining
90 percent is mainly supplied
by evaporation from oceans, seas, and other
bodies of water (lakes, rivers, streams).
HOW MUCH WATER DO PLANTS
TRANSPIRE?

 Plant transpiration is pretty much an invisible

process, since the water is evaporating from the
leaf surfaces, you don't just go out and see the
leaves "sweating". Just because you can't see the
water doesn't mean it is not being put into the
air, though. During a growing season, a leaf will
transpire many times more water than its own
weight. An acre of corn gives off about 3,000-
4,000 gallons (11,400-15,100 liters) of water each
day, and a large oak tree can transpire 40,000
gallons (151,000 liters) per year.
FUNCTION OF TRANSPIRATION
 Transpiration occurs because plants take in more
water than they actually need at a given time. It
is a way of getting rid of excess water.
 Transpiration is used to describe the specific
action of water evaporating from a plant, but the
word transpiration is also used to generally
describe how water moves through plants.
 When water enters the plant through the roots, it
is pulled up through the xylem tissue in the stem
of the plant to the plant’s leaves by capillary
action and the cohesion of water molecules. When
water reaches the stomata, which are small holes
in the leaves, it evaporates due to diffusion; the
moisture content of the air is lower than the
moisture in the leaf, so water naturally flows out
into the surrounding air in order to equalize the
concentrations.
TYPES OF
TRANSPIRATION

 Stomatal
Transpiration
 Cuticular
Transpiration
 Lenticular
Transpiration
STOMATAL TRANSPIRATION
 Stomatal transpiration is the evaporation of
water from a plant’s stomata. Most of the water
that is transpired from a plant is transpired this
way; at least 90% of the water transpired from a
plant’s leaves exits through the stomata. Near
the surface of the leaf, water in liquid form
changes to water vapor and evaporates from the
plant through open stomata.
CUTICULAR TRANSPIRATION
 Cuticular transpiration is the evaporation of
water from a plant’s cuticle. The cuticle is a waxy
film that covers the surface of a plant’s leaves.
This form of transpiration does not account for
much of a plant’s water loss; about 5-10 percent
of the leaves’ water is lost through the cuticle.
When plants close their stomata in dry
conditions, more water is transpired this way.
LENTICULAR TRANSPIRATION
 Lenticular transpiration is the evaporation of
water from the lenticels of a plant. Lenticels are
small openings in the bark of branches and twigs.
Not all plants have lenticels. The amount of
water lost this way is very small compared to
stomatal transpiration, but as with cuticular
transpiration, it may increase if a plant is in a
dry environment.
FACTORS AFFECTING
TRANSPIRATION
 Temperature
 Relative humidity

 Wind and air movement

 Soil-moisture availability

 Light

 Type of plant
TEMPERATURE
 Transpiration rates go up as the temperature
goes up, especially during the growing season,
when the air is warmer due to stronger sunlight
and warmer air masses. Higher temperatures
cause the plant cells which control the openings
(stoma) where water is released to the
atmosphere to open, whereas colder
temperatures cause the openings to close.
RELATIVE HUMIDITY
 As the relative humidity of the air surrounding
the plant rises the transpiration rate falls. It is
easier for water to evaporate into dryer air than
into more saturated air.
WIND AND AIR MOVEMENT
 Increased movement of the air around a plant
will result in a higher transpiration rate. This is
somewhat related to the relative humidity of the
air, in that as water transpires from a leaf, the
water saturates the air surrounding the leaf. If
there is no wind, the air around the leaf may not
move very much, raising the humidity of the air
around the leaf. Wind will move the air around,
with the result that the more saturated air close
to the leaf is replaced by drier air.
SOIL-MOISTURE AVAILABILITY
 When moisture is lacking, plants can begin to
senesce (premature ageing, which can result in
leaf loss) and transpire less water.
LIGHT INTENSITY
 Light is probably the most obvious among the
environmental factors affecting transpiration in
plants. It has a controlling effect on the opening
of the stoma through which water primarily
escapes in gaseous state. In general,
transpiration rate is high during daytime,
particularly when light is bright, than during
night time.
TYPE OF PLANT
 Plants transpire water at different rates. Some
plants which grow in arid regions, such as cacti
and succulents, conserve precious water by
transpiring less water than other plants.
TRANSPIRATION PROCESS
THE WATER CYCLE
 Transpiration is part of the water cycle, also
known as the hydrological cycle. The water cycle
describes how water moves throughout the
Earth.
TRANSPIRATION VS EVAPORATION
Transpiration essentially confined to
daylight hours and rate of transpiration depends
upon the growth periods of plants.

Evaporation on the other hand, continuous

all through the day and night although the rates
are different.
 Availability of water is also very important.
When water is adequately available at the site of
evaporation i.e. soil or plant surface, the rate of
evaporation is primarily controlled by
meteorological factors like solar radiation, wind,
temperature, vapour pressure deficit etc.
constituting evaporative demand of the
atmosphere.
EFFECT OF METEOROLOGICAL FACTORS
ON EVAPOTRANSPIRATION

Weather plays an important role in

determining ET.
 Weather parameters which influence
evapotranspiration are given below:
1. Heat Energy
2. Net Radiation
3. Humidity
4. Temperature
1. HEAT ENERGY:
There are two sources of energy which are
used during evapotranspiration process. One is
radiant energy and the other is the sensible
energy received from the air which is warmer
than the crop. Solar radiation generates both the
energy sources.
2. NET RADIATION
It is the major supplier in humid regions,
where daily Rn is a good measure of LE when
potential evaporation conditions prevail (Ritchie,
1971).
3. HUMIDITY
Evaporation from wet soil and water surface,
and transpiration are all influenced by the
vapour pressure of the nearby air. When the air
is saturated, there will be no evaporation. When
the vapour pressure gradient from the
evaporating surface to the air increases, the rate
of evapotranspiration also increases.
4. TEMPERATURE
Evaporation is greatly influenced by the
temperature of the air and that of the
evaporating surface. Higher the temperature,
higher is the rate of evapotranspiration. Warmer
the air, stronger the temperature gradient and
higher the rate of evapotranspiration. If the
evaporating surface is warmer, then it will
extract less sensible heat from the air, resulting
in reduced evapotranspiration.
TYPES OF EVAPOTRANSPIRATION

Evapotranspiration may be
classified as:

1. Potential
evapotranspiration (PET).
2. Actual evapotranspiration
(AET).
1. POTENTIAL EVAPOTRANSPIRATION
(PET)
If sufficient moisture is always available to
completely meet the needs of vegetation fully
covering the area, the resulting
evapotranspiration is called “Potential
Evapotranspiration”
It is the measure of the ability of the
atmosphere to remove water from the surface
through the processes of evaporation and
transpiration assuming no control on water
supply.
CONDITIONS FOR
POTENTIAL EVAPOTRANSPIRATION:

i. The rate of potential evapotranspiration of

different crops with same albedo is the same for
all the plants and soils.
ii. The rate of PET cannot exceed pan evaporation.
iii. The rate of PET is controlled by the weather
conditions.
iv. Maximum growth rates of the plants can be
maintained by keeping the maximum
2. ACTUAL EVAPOTRANSPIRATION (AET)
The real evapotranspiration occurring in a
specific situation
The quantity of water that is actually
removed from a surface due to the processes of
evaporation and transpiration.
Actual evapotranspiration remains less than
maximum evapotranspiration, when the
available soil moisture is limited. If sufficient
water is available to the crop, then the actual
evapotranspiration becomes equal to maximum
evapotranspiration.
Evapotranspiration may be estimated using the
equation of the water balance.

P – RS – Go – Eact = ∆S
where:
P – precipitation
RS – surface runoff
Go – subsurface outflow
Eact – actual evapotranspiration
∆S – change in moisture storage
MEASUREMENT OF
EVAPOTRANSPIRATION

Lysimeters
Field Plots
LYSIMETERS
 A special watertight tank containing a block of
soil and set in the field of growing plants.
 Evapotranspiration is estimated in terms of the
amount of water required to maintain constant
moisture conditions within the tank measured
either volumetrically or gravimetrically through
an arrangement made in the lysimeter
FIELD PLOTS
 In s special plots all the elements of the water
budget in a known interval of time are measured
and the evapotranspiration determined as

Evapotranspiration = [Precipitation + Irrigation

Input – Run off – Increase in Soil Storage –
Groundwater Loss]
EVAPOTRANSPIRATION EQUATION
PENMAN’S EQUATION – is based on sound theoretically
reasoning and is obtained by a combination of energy – balance and
mass – transfer approach.
PET = A Hn + Ea ϒ
A+ϒ
Where:
PET – daily potential evaporation in mm per day
A – slope of the saturation vapour pressure vs temp. curve at the
mean air temperature, in mm of mercury per °C

Hn – net radiation in mm of evaporable of water per day

Ea – parameter including wind velocity and saturation deficit
ϒ – psychometric constant = 0.49 mm of mercury/ °C
 Net Radiation

Hn = Ha(1-r) (a + b n̸N)- σTa4(.56 – 0.092√ea)(0.10

+ 0.90 n̸N)
Where:
Ha - incident solar radiation outside the atmosphere on a
horizontal surface, expressed in mm of evaporable
water per day.
a – constant depending upon the latitude φ and is given
by a= 0.29cos φ
b – constant w/ average value of 0.52
n – actual duration of bright sunshine in hours
N – maximum possible hours of bright sunshine
r – reflection coefficient (albedo).
σ – Stefan-Boltzman constant = 2.01 x 109 mm/day
Ta – Mean temperature in degrees kelvin = 273 + °C
 ea – actual mean vapor pressure in the air in mm of
mercury
 SURFACE RANGE OF R VALUES

Close ground crops 0.15 – 0.29

Bare lands 0.05-0.45

Water lands 0.05

snow 0.45-0.95
  Ea = 0.35 (1 + U2̸160)(ew – ea)
U2 – mean wind speed at 2m above ground in km/day

ew – saturation vapour pressure at mean air temperature in mm of

mercury
 ea – actual vapor pressure in the air in mm of mercury
BLANEY-CRIDDLE FORMULA
Purely empirical formula based
on data from arid western
United States.

Assumes that PET is related to

hours of sunshine and
temperature, which are taken as
measures of solar radiation at an
area
 ET = 2.54 K F
F = Ʃ Ph Tf / 100
Where:
ET – PET in a crop season in cm
K – an empirical coefficient, depends on the type of the
crop
F – sum of monthly consumptive use factors for the
period
Ph – monthly percent of annual day-time hours, depends
on the latitude of the place
Tf – mean monthly temperature in °F.
THORNTHWAITE FORMULA
This formula was developed from data of eastern
USA and uses only the mean monthly
temperature together with the adjustment for
day-lengths.

ET = 1.6 La (10T ̸ It)a

ET – monthly PET in cm
La – adjustment for the number of hours of
daylight and days in the month, related to
latitude of the place
T – mean monthly air temperature °C
 ET = 1.6 La (10T ̸ It)a
It – total of 12 monthly values of heat index

It = Ʃi ; where i =
(T/5)1.514
a – empirical constant
= 6.75 x 10-7 It3 – 7.71 x 10-5 It2 + 1.792 x 10-2 It +
0.49239