This parent dataset links to four seasons of datasets on alfalfa grown for grain at the USDA-ARS Conservation and Production Laboratory (CPRL), Soil and Water Management Research Unit (SWMRU), Bushland, Texas (Lat. 35.186714°, Long. -102.094189°, elevation 1170 m above MSL) in 1996 through 1999. Alfalfa was grown on two large, precision weighing lysimeters, each in the center of a 4.44 ha square field. The datasets for individual years consist of soil water content, weather, crop growth and yield, agronomic calendar, water balance (evapotranspiration, precipitation, dew/frost, irrigation), and lysimeter energy and water balance data. Additional resources provide metadata on conventions, symbols used, geographic coordinates of fields, lysimeters and weather stations, and soil properties.

This dataset consist of 15-minute and daily amounts of evapotranspiration (ET), dew/frost fall, precipitation (rain/snow), irrigation, scale counterweight adjustment, and emptying of drainage tanks, all in mm. The values are the result of a rigorous quality control process involving algorithms for detecting dew/frost accumulations, and precipitation (rain and snow). Changes in lysimeter mass due to emptying of drainage tanks, counterweight adjustment, maintenance activity, and harvest are accounted for such that ET values are minimally affected. Data are for maize grown for grain at the USDA-ARS Conservation and Production Laboratory (CPRL), Soil and Water Management Research Unit (SWMRU), Bushland, Texas (Lat. 35.186714°, Long. -102.094189°, elevation 1170 m above MSL) for 1989, 1990, 1994, 2013, 2016, and 2018. Maize was grown on four large, precision weighing lysimeters, each in the center of a 4.44 ha square field.

This parent dataset links to six seasons of datasets on maize grown for grain at the USDA-ARS Conservation and Production Laboratory (CPRL), Soil and Water Management Research Unit (SWMRU), Bushland, Texas (Lat. 35.186714°, Long. -102.094189°, elevation 1170 m above MSL) for 1989, 1990, 1994, 2013, 2016, and 2018. Maize was grown on four large, precision weighing lysimeters, each in the center of a 4.44 ha square field. The datasets for individual season years consist of soil water content, weather, crop growth and yield, agronomic calendar, water balance (evapotranspiration, precipitation, dew/frost, irrigation), and lysimeter energy and water balance data.

There is a need to validate current soil test critical levels as well as carry out calibration studies (crop response to fertilizer P at varying soil test levels). We report on a calibration experiment using an improved tropical forage, Brachiaria decumbens in a soil with soil test P in the Low category.