Cotton Lint Yield Research Articles

ABSTRACT The objective of this work was to select a cotton line tolerant to water stress, based on yield and fiber quality characteristics. A total of nine cotton genotypes were evaluated (six breeding lines and three commercial cultivars) in two field experiments conducted in Quixeramobim - CE without water supplementation in 2018 and 2019, respectively. Traits related to cotton lint yield and intrinsic fiber quality were measured. Data were submitted to individual and joint analysis of variance, and selection by the selection index. The genetic variability among the materials demonstrates the possibility of significant gains in the cotton selection process. The genotypes CNPA 2013 - 2235 RF FL, CNPA 2013 - 2064 RF FL and CNPA 2012 - 160 RF FL, as well as the cultivar FM 944 GL, had higher production and better fiber quality under rainfed conditions.

Economic penalties associated with irrigation during high rainfall years in the southeastern United States

Predicting and interpreting cotton yield and its determinants under long-term conservation management practices using machine learning

Conservation management practices such as no-tillage and cover crops can decrease soil’s susceptibility to wind erosion, but adoption of these practices has been limited on the Texas High Plains (THP) where producers are concerned with cover crop water usage. The objective of this study was to evaluate the impact of no-tillage and cover crops on cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) lint yield and soil water content in a deficit irrigated cropping system. Soil water was observed bi-weekly in long-term, continuous cotton systems established in 1998 that included (1) conventional tillage, winter fallow, (2) no-tillage with rye (Secale cereale L.) cover, and (3) no-tillage with mixed species cover located in Lamesa, TX, USA. Results include observations from 2018–2020 (years 21–23 of the study period). The adoption of conservation practices did not significantly reduce cotton lint yield compared to conventionally tilled, winter fallow cotton. Soil water was initially depleted with cover crops but was greater throughout the growing season following cover crop termination. Throughout the soil profile, water depletion and recharge were more dynamic with conservation practices compared to the conventionally tilled control. There were no differences in cotton water use efficiency between treatments. Results from this study indicate cover crop water usage is likely not the cause of cotton lint yield decline in this deficit irrigated semi-arid production system.

Straw returning is an important method of improving soil fertility and reducing environmental pollution. Controlled-release nitrogen fertilizer (CRN) is regarded as an effective way to reduce nitrogen (N) loss and increase N-use efficiency and crop yield. In order to determine the combined effects of straw management (straw removal and straw returning) and N-fertilization strategy (CK (no N), urea, CRN, and a mixture of urea and CRN (UC)) on lint yield, N utilization, and soil properties at harvest of field-seeded cotton, field experiments were conducted from 2018 to 2019. The results demonstrated that the lint yield was the highest with a combination of straw returning and UC, increasing by 4.2–46.9% over other combinations. Straw returning combined with UC facilitated biomass-accumulation and N-uptake from squaring to the boll-opening growth stage, contributing to higher N agronomic-use efficiency and apparent recovery-use efficiency. Moreover, regardless of the straw management, CRN or UC treatment increased the soil microbial N content and sucrase activity at harvest compared to urea or CK treatment. In summary, straw returning combined with UC was beneficial to the lint yield, N utilization, and soil N availability, which might be an optimizing strategy for field-seeded cotton.

Mepiquat chloride (MC) is a plant growth regulator used to manage the rampant vegetative growth of cotton. A two-year field experiment was conducted at the Postgraduate Agricultural Research Station, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan, during 2017 and 2018 to investigate the influence of MC applied at different times on phenology, morphology, lint yield and quality of cotton cultivated using different sowing techniques. MC was applied 50 days after sowing (DAS), 60 DAS and 70 DAS to cotton planted in flat fields (flat sowing), ridges (ridge sowing) and beds (bed sowing). The interactive effect of MC application time and sowing technique did not influence crop phenology, morphology, and lint yield and quality. It was revealed that the crop planted on beds took fewer days to flower (10%) as compared to that on the flat field, and the bed-sown crop produced a higher number of opened bolls (60%) and was characterized by a higher boll weight (32%) and seed cotton yield (50%) in comparison to the flat-sown crop. A late application of MC (at 70 DAS) caused a significant reduction in the time to flowering (8%), with a simultaneous increase in the number of opened bolls (60%), boll weight (32%), ginning out turn (8%) and lint yield (27%) as compared to MC application at 50 DAS. In terms of lint quality, cotton planted on beds had better fiber uniformity (8%) compared to that on the flat field, while MC applied at 70 DAS produced better fiber fineness by 27% in comparison to MC applied earlier. Overall, cotton planting on beds and MC application at 70 DAS may help improve cotton yield and fiber quality and may help in the mechanical picking of cotton.

This current study was performed to determine the influences of plant spacing, Nitrogen (N) fertilization rate and their effect, on growth traits, yield, and yield components of cotton (Gossypium barbadense L.) cv. Giza 97 during the 2019 and 2020 seasons. A split plot experiment in three replicates was utilized whereas the cotton seeds were planted at 20, 30, and 40 cm, as main plots and nitrogen at 75, 100, and 125%, was in subplots. The results revealed that the planting spacing at 40 cm significantly (p ≤ 0.01) increased plant height, number of fruiting branches per plant, number of bolls per plant, boll weight (BW), lint percentage (L%), seed cotton yield (SCY), lint cotton yield (LCY), seed index and lint index by 165.68 cm, 20.92, 23.93, 3.75 g, 42.01%, 4.24 ton/ha, 5.16 ton/ha, 12.05, 7.86, respectively, as average in both seasons. The application of N fertilizer rate at 125% caused a maximum increase in growth and yield parameters i.e., plant height (169.08 cm), number of vegetative branches (2.67), number of fruiting branches per plant (20.82), number bolls per fruiting branch (1.39), number of bolls per plant (23.73), boll weight (4.1 g), lint percent (41.9%), seed index (11.8 g), and lint index (8.2), while the plants treated with 100% N rates exhibited highest seed cotton yield (4.3 ton/ha) and lint cotton yield (5.6 ton/ha), as average in both seasons. Combining plant spacing at 40 cm between plants with a 100% N fertilizer rate recorded the highest lint cotton yield (5.67 ton/ha), while the highest seed cotton yield (4.43 and 4.50 ton/ha) was obtained from 125% N fertilizer rate under planting spacing 20 and 40 cm, respectively. Conclusively, a wide density (40 cm) with 125% N is a promising option for improved biomass, cotton growth, yield, physiological traits, and fiber quality.

ABSTRACT This study aimed to optimize the period of drip phosphorus (P) fertilization to increase P migration distance in soil and content in cotton, so as to achieve the coordinated above and belowground growth of cotton plants. A field experiment was conducted to study soil P in response to P application by drip irrigation during different periods of cotton cultivation using diffusive gradients in thin films (DGT) in situ. The root length density, biomass, P content and lint yield of cotton were investigated. Compared with broadcast P fertilization before plowing, drip P fertilization after sowing significantly increased DGT-P and root length density in the top 0–15 cm soil layer, and significantly increased the biomass P content and lint yield of cotton, but reduced the root/shoot ratio. In addition, drip P fertilization at bud stage could also increase the DGT-P and root length density in the top 0–10 cm soil layer compared with the broadcast P fertilization treatment. Our results indicate that drip P fertilization after sowing is an effective method to expand the vertical migration of P in soil, increase the length, density, and P content of shoot, and improve the growth of cotton.

Irrigated cotton in Australia is mainly grown on heavy textured soils which are prone to waterlogging, resulting in significant losses of nitrogen (N) via denitrification and surface run-off. This study investigated fertiliser nitrogen use efficiency (fNUE) over three seasons on five commercial cotton farms using the 15N tracer technique. Fertiliser NUE was consistently low across all fertilised treatments, with on average 47% of the applied fertiliser lost and only 17% of the N taken up by the crop derived from fertiliser. There was no significant effect of different N fertiliser products and rates on cotton lint yield. High lint yields (0.9–3.6 Mg ha−1) could be achieved even without the application of N fertiliser, demonstrating mineralisation of soil organic N, residual fertiliser, or N returned with crop residues, as key source of N in these cropping systems. Using the nitrification inhibitor DMPP and overhead instead of furrow irrigation showed potential to reduce N fertiliser losses. The results demonstrate that under current on-farm management fNUE is low on irrigated cotton farms in Australia and highlight the need to account for soil N stocks and mineralisation rates when assessing optimized fertiliser rates. There is substantial scope to improve fNUE and reduce N losses without any impact on lint yield, by adjusting N fertiliser application rates, in particular in combination with the use of the nitrification inhibitor DMPP. Using overhead instead of furrow irrigation is a promising approach to improve not only water use efficiency, but also fNUE in irrigated cotton systems.

Therefore, a simple, completely factorial randomized pot experiment was conducted during 2018 at pot culture yard, Department of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry, Annamalai University to evaluate the effect of organic and inorganic sources and levels of boron on growth and yield, quality attributes and uptake by cotton under salt stress condition. The experiment was conducted with four levels of boron (0, 0.5, 1.0 and 1.5 mg//kg of soil) through three sources viz., borox, solubar and magnesium borohumate complexes. The cotton variety LRA5166 was used as test variety. The results revealed that application of 1.5 kg of B through magnesium borohumate (MBH) complex recorded the higher plant height (124.6 cm), leaf area index (4.82), DMP (216 g/pot), yield components like number of bolls per plant (18.20), and mean boll weight (3.92) of cotton in saline sodic soil. Furthermore, higher seed cotton yield (93.51 g/pot), seed yield (54.72 g/pot) and lint yield (33.53 72 g/pot) were also recorded. This was on par with application of 1.0 kg of B through magnesium borohumate and recorded the plant height (122.81 cm), leaf area index (4.7), DMP (213 g/pot), yield components like number of bolls per plant (17.4), and mean boll weight (3.83 g), seed cotton yield (92.71 g/pot), seed yield (54.1 g/pot) and lint yield (32.96 g/pot) and followed by S2L4 (1.5 kg of B through solubar). The conclusion made from this study is the application of boron through 1.0 kg of B through magnesium borohumate will sustainably increase the cotton yield in saline sodic soil.

Sap velocity, transpiration and water use efficiency of drip-irrigated cotton in response to chemical topping and row spacing

The purpose of the current study is to compare among traditional fertilizers (mineral fertilizers); N, P and K and untraditional fertilizers (nano-fertilizers); chitosan, integration of chitosan and N, P or K nano-particles with different doses of 10, 20 and 30mg/l. Mineral fertilizers were obtained from the chemical store of Soils and Water Research Institute, ARC. Nano-fertilizers were prepared in National Institute of Laser Enhanced Science (NILES), Cairo University. The studied cotton variety was Giza 94 (G94). All used cotton samples were collected from 2017 and 2018 cotton growing seasons. Cotton fiber properties was conducted at Egyptian & International Cotton Classification Center (EICCC) using Fiber Classifying System (FCS), (ARC). Almost of cotton properties such as seed cotton yield, boll weight, lint percentage and lint cotton yield, cotton fiber properties; uniformity index, upper half mean, strength, elongation, reflectance percentage, yarn strength and yellowness gave a significant contribution towards final product. The conclusion of results was that nano-fertilize doses of chitosan+K 30mg/l was the best for almost studied properties followed by other nano-fertilizers chitosan+K 10 or 20mg/l, chitosan+P10,20 or 30mg/l, chitosan+N 10,20 and 30mg/l, chitosan and finally traditional fertilizers; mineral fertilizers.

This study aimed to simulate the spatiotemporal variation in cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) growth and lint yield using a remote sensing-integrated crop model (RSCM) for cotton. The developed modeling scheme incorporated proximal sensing data and satellite imagery. We formulated this model and evaluated its accuracy using field datasets obtained in Lamesa in 1999, Halfway in 2002 and 2004, and Lubbock in 2003–2005 in the Texas High Plains in the USA. We found that RSCM cotton could reproduce the cotton leaf area index and lint yield across different locations and irrigation systems with a statistically significant degree of accuracy. RSCM cotton was also used to simulate cotton lint yield for the field circles in Halfway. The RSCM system could accurately reproduce the spatiotemporal variations in cotton lint yield when integrated with satellite images. From the results of this study, we predict that the proposed crop-modeling approach will be applicable for the practical monitoring of cotton growth and productivity by farmers. Furthermore, a user can operate the modeling system with minimal input data, owing to the integration of proximal and remote sensing information.

Mitigating greenhouse gas emissions and ammonia volatilization from cotton fields by integrating cover crops with reduced use of nitrogen fertilizer

Abstract Studies were conducted in 2019 and 2020 in Lewiston, NC, to determine the crop response of 4-hydroxyphenylpyrivate dioxygenase (HPPD)-resistant cotton to isoxaflutole (IFT) and other cotton herbicides as part of a cotton weed management program that included herbicides applied preemergence, early postemergence (EPOST), and mid-postemergence (MPOST). IFT was applied PRE at 105 g ha−1alone and in various combinations with acetochlor, diuron, fluometuron, fluridone, fomesafen, pendimethalin, and pyrithiobac. EPOST treatments included IFT at 53 or 105 g ha−1alone or in combination with glyphosate or glufosinate, or dimethenamid-P+ glufosinate. Glyphosate + glufosinate was applied MPOST to all treatments except the nontreated control. Cotton injury from IFT applied PRE was minimal (0% to 3%). Injury following EPOST application of dimethenamid-P+ glufosinate ranged from 3% to 5% and 6% to 9% in 2019 and 2020, respectively. In both years, injury from IFT applied PRE followed by IFT applied EPOST never exceeded injury from IFT applied PRE followed by dimethenamid-P+ glufosinate. Isoxaflutole applied PRE followed by IFT applied EPOST at 105 g ha−1resulted in 0% to 2% cotton injury, indicating that IFT can be applied either PRE or EPOST with minimal risk to cotton. Late-season cotton height and cotton lint yield were not affected by any herbicide treatment. The experimental HPPD-resistant cotton cultivar was minimally injured by IFT applied PRE and EPOST, it tolerated standard cotton herbicides, and yield loss was not observed. Given these results, HPPD-resistant cotton and IFT may be integrated into cotton weed management systems with minimal risk for cotton injury and provide an additional effective mechanism of action for managing troublesome weeds in cotton.

Nitrogen (N) plays an important role in various plant physiological processes, but studies on the photosynthetic efficiency and enzymatic activities in the cotton subtending leaves and their contribution to yield are still lacking. This study explored the influence of low, moderate, and high N levels on the growth, photosynthesis, carbon (C) and N metabolizing enzymes, and their contribution to yield in CCRI-69 (N-efficient) and XLZ-30 (N-inefficient). The results showed that moderate to high N levels had significantly improved growth, photosynthesis, and sucrose content of CCRI-69 as compared to XLZ-30. The seed cotton yield and lint yield of CCRI-69 were similar under moderate and high N levels but higher than XLZ-30. Similarly, moderate to high N levels improved the C/N metabolizing enzymatic activities in the subtending leaf of CCRI-69 than XLZ-30. A strong correlation was found between subtending leaf N concentration with C/N metabolizing enzymes, photosynthesis, sucrose contents, boll weight, and seed cotton yield of N-efficient cotton genotype. These findings suggest that subtending leaf N concentration regulates the enzymatic activities and has a key role in improving the yield. These parameters may be considered for breeding N-efficient cotton genotypes, which might help to reduce fertilizer loss and improve crop productivity.

Cotton is an important agro-industrial crop across the globe. Improving the fiber quality and yield potential of cotton are major commercial targets for cotton breeders. The cotton lint yield is computed by multiplying three fundamental yield constituents: average boll weight, boll number per unit ground area, and lint percentage. The cotton species Gossypium arboreum exhibits a wide range of desirable traits, which are absent in the congener Gossypium hirsutum. Four parental lines of G. hirsutum and G. arboreum, with significant differences in boll-related traits, were used to develop the following four F2 populations: Mei Zhongmian × Chimu Heizi (MC), Mei Zhongmian × L-02292-3 (ML), Dixie king × Suyuan 04-44 (DS), and Dixie king × Pamuk (DP), in order to study complex traits, such as boll weight (BW) (g), lint percentage (LP) (%), boll upper width (BUW), boll medium width (BMW), boll lower width (BLU), and boll length (BL) (mm). In segregation populations, extensive phenotypic differences and transgressive segregation were observed. The results show that most of the correlation clusters were negatively associated with boll weight and lint percentage. The positive correlation clusters were observed among boll upper width (BUW), boll medium width (BMW), boll lower width (BLW), and boll length (BL). Seven of the twenty-four extracted principal components had eigenvalues > 1. This accounted for 62.2% of the difference between the four F2 populations. Principal component 1 accounted for 15.1% of the overall variability. The variation in principal component 1 was mainly attributed to boll lower width (BLW), boll medium width (BMW), boll upper width (BUW), boll length (BL), and boll weight (BW) of the ML population. The heritability estimates varied between high, medium, and low for various traits among the studied F2 populations. Interestingly, all traits demonstrated low genetic advance, which indicates that non-additive genes controlled these characters and that direct selection for these traits is not beneficial. The outcome of the present investigation will help to develop cotton cultivars with improved boll weight and lint percentage.

Agriculture in the Texas High Plains (THP) is in a transition phase of producing crops with a diminishing supply of irrigation-water from the Ogallala aquifer to dryland production systems. This shift is driven by the fact that the depth to the water table of the Ogallala aquifer continues to increase. Dryland cotton production systems are prevalent in the southern counties of the THP and our purpose was to use the long-term dryland cotton lint yields from these counties as precursors of the future cotton production patterns that will emerge in this region. For this purpose, from 1972 to 2018, we calculated the ratio of dryland cotton lint yield per unit of annual rainfall at the county level. This ratio is called crop water productivity (CWP) and has units of mass per unit volume (g/m3). In our analysis, we used cotton lint yield data provided by the National Agricultural Statistics and rainfall data provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Our results indicated that the three datasets used in our analysis, i.e., cotton lint yield, rainfall and CWP were all normally distributed. In this time period, 1972 to 2018, only one year 2011—a year with a record drought of 179 mm of rain failed to produce a dryland cotton crop in all the counties used in our analysis. The mean cotton lint yield ± standard deviation ranged from a high of 400 ± 175 kg/ha in Lubbock County to a low of 252 ± 144 kg/ha in Andrews County. However, the counties with the largest CWP > 90 g/m3 were Glasscock, Midland and Martin County. The importance of this result is that these counties are in the southern region of the THP and are subject to extreme environmental conditions and yet cotton producers manage to produce a cotton crop in most years. We conclude that management production methods used by these dryland producers represent the future schemes that will need to be adopted in other counties to sustain the emerging dryland cropping systems across the THP.

Salicylic acid (SA), a plant phenolic compound and calcium chloride have a great role on crop plants against biotic and abiotic stresses. This experiment was conducted to study the effects of foliar application of salicylic acid (S1=0, S2=50, S3=100 and S4=150 ppm) and calcium chloride (C1=0, C2=1.5 and C3=3 g/L) on cotton. The results showed that, salicylic acid increased the percentage of oil and nitrogen in seeds as well as the amount of chlorophyll content in the leaves, and this increased continued until S4=150ppm. Calcium chloride had no significant effect on them. The interaction between calcium chloride and salicylic acid had significant effect on the lint and grain yield in cotton and increased them. Biological yield, weight of seed per boll, weight of cotton per boll and number of boll per plant also affected by the interantion between of these two treatments. In thsese traits, although salicylic acid until S4 increased them, but the main effect of calcium chloride was up to C2. It was found unlike salicylic acid, which affectd on yield, yield components, photosynthesis piments and the content of mineral elements in seeds until S4, calcium chloride had a major effect on yield and yield components and this effect was until the level of C2.

Abstract Coastal Plain soils are often characterized by low soil organic carbon (SOC) as a result of natural and anthropogenic factors. A rotation of cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) and peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.) under conventional tillage is typical in this region, but an opportunity to increase SOC and improve soil health by incorporating winter grazing of cover crops exists for producers with row crop and livestock operations. A study to assess winter grazing impacts on soil health was established in the U.S. Coastal Plain. Three cattle removal dates and an ungrazed control were evaluated for impacts on selected soil health indicators: SOC, permanganate oxidizable carbon (POXC), water stable aggregates (WSA), penetration resistance (PR), microbial biomass C (MBC), and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) colonization rates. After two years, MBC was highest in the control treatments, likely due to greater cover crop biomass on the soil surface at termination. No differences were observed between treatments for SOC, POXC, WSA, PR, or AMF. Increased cotton lint yield was observed in control and mid‐February treatments in 2019, likely due to greater cover crop residues on the soil surface following grazing, which may have conserved soil moisture during the growing season. Peanut yields were unaffected by treatments in 2020. Lack of differences in soil health indicators suggests that integrating winter‐grazing livestock does not negatively nor positively impact selected dynamic soil properties in the short‐term, but more time under grazing treatments is needed to thoroughly evaluate how winter‐grazing livestock impacts soil health and crop yield.