Producing Chrysanthellum indicum DC. (1836) on organic amended soil in dry-season: crop coefficient Kc and growing stages determination

An important concern has risen about the over exploitation of both timber and non-timber products in West African Soudano-Sahelian countries. This study focused on the determination of the crop growing stages and coefficient Kc allowing the irrigation of Chrysanthellum indicum, an herbaceous threatened plant frequently used in herbal medicine against heart and kidney diseases. To obtain the Kc, three steps were undertaken. First, a weather station provided the variables needed to calculate the reference evapotranspiration ET0. Secondly, to ascertain scientifically the results, the experiment runs nine lysimeters to determine the crop maximum evapotranspiration ETM. A well-drained loam with 8.1±1.6% of organic matter content was used within the replications. The water-balance providing ETM used irrigation I and drainage D measured every two days. Finally, the definition ETMloc = Kc·ET0 was applied after the transformation of ETM into local ETMloc. The results showed that the triplet {stage name; stage duration (days); crop coefficient (Kc)} values are respectively {initial; 28; 0.7±0.1}; {development; 17; 0.7-1.4±0.2}; {mid-season; 20; 1.4±0.2} and {late-season; 14; 0.7±0.04}. The total growing period was found as 79 days. These results offer the possibility for a water-efficient production of Chrysanthellum indicum in the dry season.