Narrow-row Production Research Articles

Harowood common bean

Harowood is a late-maturing, high-yielding white (navy) bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) cultivar with a semideterminate growth habit. The main advantages of Harowood over other cultivars are its more erect plant type which forms a narrow canopy and its high podding nodes which make the crop suitable for narrow row production and direct combining. Harowood is resistant to the alpha and delta races of anthracnose and to races 1 and 15 of bean common mosaic virus. Key words: Phaseolus vulgaris L., dry edible (navy, pea) bean, upright plant type, cultivar description

A REDUCED TILLAGE SYSTEM WITH FURROW DIKING FOR COTTON PRODUCTION

ABSTRACT A study was conducted from 1982-87 to determine the production potential and practicality of a reduced tillage system that used furrow diking as a key operation. The reduced tillage system (RT) was compared with conventional (CT) and narrow row (NR) production systems. The RT system significantly reduced runoff, increased moisture storage, yields of cotton, water-use efficiency, and profitability compared to CT and NR systems. Mean yield increase from RT was 12 and 33% over CT and NR, respectively. Net returns to land, management, and risk for RT were $244/ha, 50 and 114% greater than CT and NR, respectively.

Energy Inputs to Cotton Production In Arkansas

Three years of studies on energy inputs to cotton production were conducted in eastern Arkansas. Fuel use per unit area and yield were investigated for narrow-row (76-cm, 30-in. row spacing), bedded and flat production systems versus conventionally spaced (97-cm, 38-in. row spacing), bedded production systems. Fuel use per unit area decreased with increase in speed of stripper and picker harvesting. Yield decreased for the narrow-row production systems during a hot, dry year, and the fuel savings may not have offset the yield reduction, depending on variety planted. Yield during a year with normal precipitation was at least as high for the narrow-row production systems, and sometimes higher, than for the conventional production systems. Stripper harvesting used less fuel and harvested more of the crop than picker harvesting. Stripper harvesting also resulted in collection of more trash than picker harvesting, so savings in fuel use and increased crop harvested should be compared to the cost of removing trash from the seed cotton. A proposed energy-conserving cotton production system for eastern Arkansas consists of planting Cascot L7 in bedded, narrow rows and brush roll stripper harvesting with the cleaner operating. Use of this system resulted in approximately a 60% reduction in total fuel use per unit area and a 429% increase in the clean seed cotton harvested per unit of diesel fuel used as compared to the conventional production system with twice-over picker harvesting.

Cultural Control of the Boll Weevil (Coleoptera: Curculionidae): Effects of Narrow-row Spacing and Row Direction

The effects of row direction and row spacing on plant development and on Populations: of the boll weevil. Anthonomus grandis grandis Boheman. in dryland cotton in the Texas Rolling Plains were studied from 1981 to 1983. A precision planter was used to obtain equal plant densities in all row directions and row spacings each year. Rows were oriented in east/west (E/W) and north/south (N/S) compass directions. The three row spacings were 51. 69, and 102 cm. Row direction did not affect plant canopy diameters or square production. Canopy diameters were significantly larger in the 102-cm spacing, but significantly more squares were produced in the 51-cm spacing. There were no yield differences between row spacings or row directions. Row spacing had little effect on soil surface temperatures under the plant canopy, but soil temperatures were considerably higher in N/S rows than in E/W rows. Boll weevil survival in fallen squares under the plant canopy was significantly higher in E/W rows than in N/S rows, and survival was higher in the 102- cm spacing than in the 51- or 69-cm spacings. A multiple regression analysis indicated that both soil temperature and canopy diameter interact to influence survival of boll weevils in fallen squares. Boll weevil damage to squares and bolls on the plant was significantly higher in N/S rows than in E/W rows, and damage was significantly greater in the 51-cm spacing than in the 60- and 102-cm spacings. Boll weevil damage was highest in the 51-cm spacing, and yields were not improved in the 51- or 69-cm spacings. Therefore, narrow-row production cannot be recommended as a boll weevil management strategy for dryland cotton production in the Texas Rolling Plains.

Pink Bollworm (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae): Oviposition and Larval Success on Resistant and Susceptible Cotton Plants

Oviposition and larval development of pink boll worm (PBW), Pectinophora Gossypiella (Saunders), on a breeding stock of upland cotton, Gossypium hirsutum L., designated AET-5, was compared to that on a commercial cultivar, ‘Deltapine 61’ (DPL-61), in greenhouse no-choice and free-choice tests, and in field free-choice tests. The field resistance of AET-5 was caused mainly by lower PBW oviposition. The early-flowering advantage of AET-5 was negated in the greenhouse experiments. In the field, AET-5 exhibited a modest level of internal-boll antibiosis, as shown by its lower ratio of insects per boll recovered for each PBW entrance hole. In the greenhouse, the ratio of entrance holes for every egg laid was lower on AET-5 than on DPL-61. The antibiosis, and the lower number of entrance holes per egg laid may be valuable in transferring AET-5’s resistance to improved breeding stocks. Cultivars that are early maturing and carry the other resistance factors would be valuable in short-season, narrow-row production systems because the need for insecticides would be reduced or eliminated. Of the total eggs per plant, 55% of AET-5 and 46% of DPL-61 were laid in clusters at the base of the stem or in the soil around the base of the stem. Mean percentages of eggs laid (above the stem base) on axillary branches, bolls, leaves, and all other plant parts combined (terminals, stems, squares, and flowers)were 41, 42, 13, and 4%, respectively, for AET-5; and 51, 36, 9, and 4%, respectively, for DPL- 61. The total number of eggs per plant was not significantly different on AET-5 than on DPL-61 in the greenhouse, but AET-5 had significantly fewer eggs per plant in the field.