Assessment of the Idso crop water stress index (CWSI)
model for detecting water STRESS in maize (Zea mays L) in
the rainforest Argo-zone, Southeastern Nigeria
Accepted 1st August, 2013
Ezemonye Mary N1* and Emeribe Chukwudi N2
1Department of Geography and Regional Planning,
University of Benin, Nigeria. 2Environmental Pollution and Remediation Unit,
National Centre for Energy and Environment,
Energy Commission of Nigeria University of Benin, Nigeria.
*Corresponding author.
E-mail:ezemonyemary@yahoo.com.
In spite of the observed and potential impacts of climatic
variability on agricultural sector in Nigeria, little is known
about how agricultural yields will respond to climatic
variability. Thus, predicting yield response to crop water
stress index (CWSI) is important in developing strategies and
decision-making concerning irrigation management under limited
water conditions by farmers. The present study investigated the
applicability of Idso CWSI model in predicting seasonal pattern
of water stress in maize over southeastern Nigeria. From our
analysis CWSI values ranged from 0.54 to 1.0 indicating periods
of moderate to maximum water stress. August is the month in the
study area when there is moderate soil moisture supply for
maize. Most of the high water stress index values were recorded
in March and April except for Calabar and Uyo stations. The high
peaks in water stress in the month of August (Ikom) and June (Onitsha)
can be explained by the fact that within these periods rainfall
and soil moisture are expected to be in their peaks at this
region. Generally, it was observed that CWSI results calculated
for maize for the eight climatic stations fall within acceptable
range of 0 – 1.0. This buttresses the fact that the Idso
empirical CWSI model is a good indicator for maize water stress
monitoring in South-eastern Nigeria.
Key word:
Climatic variability, crop yield, crop water stress index (CWSI)
Idso, water stress.
This is an open access article
published under the terms of the
Creative Commons Attribution
License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and
reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is
properly cited.
Cite this article as:
Mary EN and Chukwudi EN (2013).
Assessment of the Idso crop water stress index (CWSI) model for detecting water
STRESS in maize (Zea mays L) in the rainforest Argo-zone, Southeastern Nigeria.
Acad. J. Environ. Sci. 1(6): 122-129.
