1. It is essential to know the water requirement of a crop which is the total quantity of water required from its sowing time up to harvest. Naturally different crops may have different water requirements at different places of the same country, depending upon the climate, type of soil, method of cultivation, effective rain etc.

2. The total water required for crop growth is not uniformly distributed over its entire life span which is also called crop period. Actually, the watering stops same time before harvest and the time duration from the first irrigation during sowing up to the last before harvest is called base period. Though crop period is slightly more than the base period, they do not differ from practical purposes. Figure 1indicates the relative usage of water for a typical crop during its entire growth period.

FIGURE 1: Variation in the requirement of water for paddy with the stage of growth