The researchers studied how much water citrus orchards in central India need by using different methods. They found that representing water needs as evapotranspiration can be misleading. They developed models to calculate crop water requirements at different stages of the growing season. By measuring water fluxes and using advanced techniques, they accurately estimated how much water was used for evaporation and transpiration. The models performed well in partitioning water fluxes on a daily basis, with some differences in estimates at the beginning but becoming more consistent over time.