A soil database from Queretaro, Mexico for assessment of crop and irrigation water requirements

Abstract

Several studies have assessed crop water requirements based on soil properties, but these have been on a small scale or on soils with similar textures. Here, a data base of soil measurements in the field and laboratory from sites across Irrigation District 023, San Juan del Rio, Queretaro, Mexico was sampled, collected, analyzed, and integrated. The data base, named, NaneSoil, contains information on 900 samples obtained from irrigated plots. NaneSoil cover 10 of the 12 textural classes with the following information: sand, silt, clay contents, bulk density, saturated volumetric water content, field capacity, permanent wilting point and saturated hydraulic conductivity. The aim of this work is to provide the scientific community with sufficient information to perform a large number of analyses, for example, development of pedotransfer functions, calculation of water requirements of plants in soils with similar characteristics, modeling of infiltration, optimal irrigation discharge calculation, among others. The dataset also promotes the scientific community to contribute their own measurements to further strengthen the knowledge of flow in the porous medium.