Water Use Efficiency
Crop water use efficiency (CWUE) can be defined in many ways.
However, the basic term describes the amount of harvestable biomass
produced by a crop per unit of water transpired. This value is
generally constant for a given crop but will vary slightly due to
differences in environmental conditions that influence crop water
demand such as relative humidity and solar radiation intensity. The
term water use efficiency is also often used to describe the crop yield
produced per unit of irrigation water applied or precipitation
received. Irrigation use efficiency or precipitation use
efficiency can be highly variable for a given crop and will be
influenced by both environmental conditions and crop management
practices.
Learn more about CWUE of crops grown in Oklahoma and the fate of
rainwater in OK from Factsheet PSS-2140.
