Evaluation and modelling of greenhouse cucumber-crop transpiration under high and low radiation conditions

At high radiation levels, the diurnal canopy transpiration rate was four times higher than at low radiation levels and the night transpiration rate reached values between 120 and 200 g m−2 d−1 in both cases. The leaf transpiration rate decreased during crop ontogeny and was higher in the afternoon than in the morning for the same value of radiation, whereas a linear relationship with the VPD was found even for values greater than 3 kPa. The results showed that the fitted simplified Penman-Monteith formula accounted for more than 90% of the measured hourly canopy transpiration rate, signifying that this formula could be used to predict water requirements of crops under Mediterranean conditions and improve irrigation control in a substrate culture. However, the model coefficients will have to be adjusted for specific climate and crop conditions.