Context: In water-limited environments, assessing water needs and efficiency is crucial for sustainable production. Research gap: However, information regarding the partitioning of evapotranspiration and the determination of indicators for resource use in some crops is still scarce. Objectives: The aim of this study, therefore, was to quantify hydrodynamic parameters and resource use efficiency in production systems for tropical grasses. Methods: An experiment was conducted from 2020 to 2023 in grass production systems for silage (elephant grass, BRS Capiacu, sugarcane, sorghum, and maize) and for grazing (Buffel, mixed pasture, Brachiaria, Mombasa, and Tanzania), in a semi-arid environment. Soil moisture, growth and crop productivity data were collected to estimate the evapotranspiration partitioning, single and dual crop coefficients, water use efficiency (WUE), crop water productivity (WPCETc), system water productivity (WPCR + ID), irrigation water productivity (WPCID), nutrient use efficiency (NUE), and radiation use efficiency (RUE). Key findings: In terms of transpiration and evaporation are directly influenced by the canopy cover. When evaluating water and radiation use efficiency, despite there being no difference in the majority of indices among the grazing grasses, those of genus Panicum tend to stand out due to the number of cycles per year (similar to 6.7). In turn, BRS Capiacu tends to be superior, for WPCETc, WPCR + ID, WPID and RUE of 8.964, 7.561 and 17.420 kg m(-3) and 3.9973 g MJ(-1), respectively. Implications: These results suggest that BRS Capiacu and grasses of genus Panicum, including the mixed pasture, have the potential for integrating production systems in a semi-arid environment.