Evaluation of evaporation-measuring equipments for estimating evapotranspiration within a greenhouse

With the objective of evaluating the performance of simple evaporation measuring equipments in estimating the evapotranspiration in greenhouse, an experiment was conducted in Piracicaba, SP, during a tomato-growing season. Daily water evaporation rate from Piche atmometer, modified atmometer and a reduced evaporation pan installed inside the greenhouse and a Class A pan installed outside were compared to the evapotranspiration rates calculated with Penman-Monteith equation. Results showed that atmometers had the best performance in estimating the crop evapotranspiration in greenhouse and could be used advantageously in relation to the evaporation pans