Determinate Cotton Cultivars for More Efficient Cotton Production on Medium‐Textured Soils in the Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas1

Abstract

AbstractThe short‐season concept (early defoliation and early harvest) offers, perhaps, the greatest potential for increasing the efficiency of cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) production and for minimizing insect control requirements in the Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas. Early defoliation also allows harvesting during the most optimum period in relation to expected rainfall.The fruiting, earliness, yield, and fiber quality of three determinate cultivars of early‐maturing cotton were compared with those of a standard nondeterminate cultivar to determine the potential of these cultivars for increasing cotton production efficiency in the Lower Rio Grande Valley. The determinate cultivars, ‘Paymaster 266,’ ‘Paymaster Dwarf,’ and ‘Acco 1764,’ produced their first blooms 3 to 7 days earlier and developed a very high rate of bloom production shortly after the first blooms, as compared with the standard cultivar, ‘TPSA 110.’ The determinate cultivars set fruit over a relatively short time, making early defoliation and harvest feasible with comparable yield and only a slight reduction in fiber quality.