Agronomic calendars for the Bushland, Texas cotton datasets

Authors: Evett, Steven - Steve; Marek, Gary; Copeland, Karen; HOWELL, SR, TERRY - Retired ARS Employee; Colaizzi, Paul; BRAUER, DAVID - Retired ARS Employee; Ruthardt, Brice

Submitted to: Ag Data Commons
Publication Type: Database / Dataset
Publication Acceptance Date: 8/4/2023
Publication Date: 8/8/2023
Citation: Evett, S.R., Marek, G.W., Copeland, K.S., Howell, Sr, T.A., Colaizzi, P.D., Brauer, D.K., Ruthardt, B.B. 2023. Agronomic calendars for the Bushland, Texas cotton datasets. Ag Data Commons. https://doi.org/10.15482/usda.adc/1529368.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.15482/usda.adc/1529368

Interpretive Summary: The scarcity of water resources in the U.S. Southern High Plains is of regional, national and even international concern due to the fact that the region acts as a breadbasket for the nation and world. The majority of agricultural production in this region depends on irrigation, largely dependent on pumping from the Ogallala or High Plains Aquifer, which are yielding less water every year. Scientists at the USDA ARS Conservation & Production Research Laboratory at Bushland, Texas, collected data that can be used to calculate crop water use under irrigated and dryland conditions in the region’s climate, and regionally specific crop coefficients for irrigation scheduling, including reduced coefficients for subsurface drip irrigation that can save water. In 2000, 2001, 2008, 2020, and 2021, cotton was grown on four large, precision weighing lysimeters, each in the center of a 4.44 ha square field. In 2002, 2010, and 2012, cotton was grown on two large, precision weighing lysimeters and their surrounding 4.44 ha square fields. In 2003 and 2004, cotton was grown on only one large weighing lysimeter in rotation with sorghum. This dataset consists of calendars for each year listing the agronomic and other management methods used to grow the crops. These data have not been previously publicly available in a readily useable format. Thus, the scientific team has prepared these unique data sets for sharing with other scientists and the general public on the USDA National Agricultural Library online data sharing library. These data sets have already been used along with crop growth and yield data, to calculate water use, crop water productivity, and crop coefficients to guide irrigation scheduling and water planning locally and regionally. Public accessibility via the USDA National Agricultural Library will increase their use by other researchers developing more capable water management tools and crop water use and yield computer models.

Technical Abstract: This dataset consists of agronomic calendars for each growing season (year) when upland cotton [Gossypium hirsutum (L.)] was grown for fiber and seed at the USDA-ARS Conservation and Production Laboratory (CPRL), Soil and Water Management Research Unit (SWMRU) research weather station, Bushland, Texas (Lat. 35.186714°, Long. -102.094189°, elevation 1170 m above MSL). In 2000, 2001, 2008, 2020, and 2021, cotton was grown on four large, precision weighing lysimeters, each in the center of a 4.44 ha square field. In 2002, 2010, and 2012, cotton was grown on two large, precision weighing lysimeters and their surrounding 4.44 ha square fields. In 2003 and 2004, cotton was grown on only one large weighing lysimeter in rotation with sorghum. The four fields were contiguous. The fields were designated northeast (NE), southeast (SE), northwest (NW), and southwest (SW), and were themselves arranged in a larger square with the fields in four adjacent quadrants of the larger square. Irrigation was by linear move sprinkler system in from 2000 through 2012. In 2020 and 2021, the NE and SE fields were irrigated using subsurface drip irrigation (SDI), while the NW and SW fields were irrigated using a linear move system. Cotton was sometimes grown as a dryland crop, sometimes as a fully irrigated crop, and sometimes as a deficit irrigated crop. Irrigations designated as full were managed to replenish soil water used by the crop on a weekly or more frequent basis as determined by soil profile water content readings made with a neutron probe to 2.4-m depth in the field. Irrigations designated as deficit typically involved full irrigation to establish the crop. The calendars list by day of year the agronomic management (planting, variety planted, fertilizer applications, pesticide applications, irrigation, tillage, harvest, etc., and other events that could have impacted weighing lysimeter measurements of crop water use (scale and datalogger maintenance, drainage tank emptying, measurement activity on the lysimeters, weather events, etc.). For each season there is one crop calendar for each two lysimeters (NE and SE, and/or NW and SW). These datasets originate from research aimed at determining crop water use (ET), crop coefficients for use in ET-based irrigation scheduling based on a reference ET, crop growth, yield, harvest index, and crop water productivity as affected by irrigation method, timing, amount (full or some degree of deficit), agronomic practices, cultivar, and weather. Prior publications have focused on ET, crop coefficients, and crop water productivity. Crop coefficients have been used by ET networks. The data have utility for testing simulation models of crop ET, growth, and yield and have been used for testing, and calibrating models of ET that use satellite and/or weather data.