|
|
||||||||
USDA-ARS, Crop Genetics and Production Research Unit, P.O. Box 345, Stoneville, MS 38776
* Corresponding author (bpettigrew{at}ars.usda.gov)
Received for publication November 19, 2001.
| ABSTRACT |
|---|
|
|
|---|
Abbreviations: DAP, days after planting LAI, leaf area index NAWB, nodes above white bloom PPFD, photosynthetic photon flux density
| INTRODUCTION |
|---|
|
|
|---|
One technique to accomplish this shift in the blooming period is to plant the crop earlier than has been typically recommended for this area. The downside to this technique could be increased risk for exposure of the cotton seedlings to cold stress (Christiansen and Rowland, 1986). Exposure to cool and damp conditions can also increase the chance of seedling infections by soil-borne pathogens. However, there are a number of fungicides now available that can minimize risks from seedling diseases. In addition, seed quality is better now because there is less field deterioration; the crop is harvested quicker due to use of earlier maturing varieties, faster spindle pickers, and field modules. The upside to this technique may be earlier maturing of the crop, which should minimize exposure to late season stresses such as insect infestations, high temperatures, and moisture deficits. There could also be a reduction in late-season inputs such as irrigation and insecticide applications. Soybean is an example of a crop that benefitted from late season stress avoidance by planting early (Heatherly and Spurlock, 1999).
Planting date studies for cotton have been performed in most states throughout the USA cotton production belt (Ballard and Simpson, 1925; Finley et al., 1964; Kittock et al., 1987; Cathey and Meredith, 1988). Most of the recommended optimum planting windows establish their earliest planting opportunity based on the fact that growth in the cotton plant becomes nearly inactive below 15°C (Waddle, 1984), further coupled with the objective to minimize loss from seedling disease. Many of these early studies were conducted before the new fungicides came on the market. The conservative nature of these planting recommendations avoided planting as early as theoretically possible. Some of the more recent planting date studies focused on establishing the latest planting opportunity, often in doublecropping cotton behind wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) (Bauer et al., 1998; Porter et al., 1996). Few have focused on pushing the planting date as early as possible.
Systems providing a degree of early seedling tolerance to exposure to chilling stress would make the benefits from early planting more consistent. Attacking the issue from a genetic standpoint is one approach. There are also reports with greenhouse and growth chambergrown plants that certain chemicals can provide some cold tolerance. Treatment with exogenous abscisic acid (ABA) at warm temperatures has been reported to reduce injury from subsequent chilling exposure in cotton seedlings (Rikin et al., 1979, 1983). Mefluidide, a synthetic plant growth regulator, also has been reported to provide some level of chilling tolerance in several crops other than cotton (Li, 1994). The drawback is that all these compounds must be applied before the onset of the chilling event to provide any benefit. The efficacy of these compounds in the field has not been addressed.
The primary objective of these experiments was to determine whether an extremely early planting date had a yield advantage over a more normal planting date, assuming that an adequate plant stand could be established for both planting dates. The secondary objective was to determine whether chemicals thought to promote early seedling growth or enhance tolerance of seedlings to early season cold stress would be beneficial in a cotton early planting production system.
| MATERIALS AND METHODS |
|---|
|
|
|---|
The second experiment was conducted from 1999 to 2000 using four modern cotton genotypes (DeltaPine 20B, FiberMax 832, Paymaster 1220 BG/RR, and Phytogen PSC 952). These genotypes were chosen to represent a range of maturities. The early planting of the cotton occurred on 1 April in both 1999 and 2000. The normal planting occurred on 1 May during both years. Soil crusting caused an inadequate stand to be established with the normal planting in 1999 and necessitated that the normal planted plots be replanted on 10 May. For each planting date, shortly after emergence, the plots were treated with one of four foliar-applied treatments. These foliar treatments were a (i) 0.14 kg ha-1 ethephon ((2-chloroethyl)phosphonic acid), (ii) 14 g ha-1 mefluidide (N-[2,4-dimethyl-5-[[(trifluoromethyl)sulfonyl]amino]phenyl] acetamide), (iii) 3 g ha-1 mefluidide and diethanolamine [bis(2-hydroxyethyl)amine] mixture, and (iv) a control receiving only water. The nonionic surfactant Tween 20 (Sigma, St. Louis, MO) was included in the mixture of all foliar treatments. Foliar treatments were applied to the plots using a CO2-powered back pack sprayer at a rate of 160 L ha-1. Applications were made to the early planting on 14 Apr. 1999 and on 21 Apr. 2000. Foliar applications to the early plantings were timed to be applied after emergence but at least 24 h before exposure to cool temperatures. Air temperatures dropped to 5°C after foliar treatments in 1999 and to 8°C in 2000. Foliar treatments were applied to the late planting on 25 May 1999 and 23 May 2000. A split plot arrangement of treatments in a randomized complete block design with four replicates was also utilized for this second experiment. Planting dates were the main plots and subplots were the genotypes and foliar applied treatments in a factorial arrangement. Plot size in the second experiment was five 1 m wide by 6 m long rows. Each year, the plots of both planting dates were over-sown and then hand-thinned to a population density of 97000 plants ha-1.
The percentage of photosynthetic photon flux density (PPFD) intercepted by the canopies of both experiments was determined with a LI 190SB point quantum sensor (LiCor, Lincoln, NE) positioned above the canopy and a 1 m long LI 191SB line quantum sensor placed on the ground perpendicular to and centered on the row. Two measurements were taken per plot with the average of those two measurements used for later statistical analysis. These PPFD interception data were collected on 16 June 1998 in Exp. 1 and on 21 June 1999 and 8 June 2000 in Exp. 2.
Dry matter harvests were taken on 9 June 1998 for Exp. 1 and on 15 June 1999 and 6 June 2000 for Exp. 2. One of the inner plot rows was designated for use in the dry matter harvests. On each harvest date, the aboveground portions of plants from 0.3 m of row were harvested and separated into leaves, stems and petioles, and squares. Leaf area index (LAI) was determined using a LI-3100 leaf area meter (LiCor, Lincoln, NE) and main stem nodes were counted. Samples were dried for 48 h at 70°C and dry weights were recorded.
The number of white blooms (blooms at anthesis) per plot were counted on a weekly basis to document the blooming rate throughout the growing season. These counts were initiated at the first sign of blooming and were continued until production of blooms had virtually ceased. Counts were collected every year for both experiments.
Yield was determined for both experiments each year by hand-harvesting 4.6 m of row length from an inner plot row that was not used in the dry matter harvest, avoiding the ends of the row. The two planting dates were always harvested on the same dates. Four hand-harvests were made in 1996, 1997, 1998, and 1999. Only three hand-harvests were made in 2000. The number of bolls harvested per plot were counted on each harvest date. Boll mass was determined by dividing the seed cotton harvested per plot by the number of bolls harvested per plot. Average seed mass was determined from 100 nondelinted seeds per plot.
After ginning, lint samples were sent to Starlab Inc. (Knoxville, TN) for determination of various fiber quality parameters. Fiber bundle strength and fiber elongation were determined with a stelometer. Span lengths were measured with a digital fibrograph. Fiber maturity, wall thickness, and perimeter were calculated from arealometer measurements.
All weather data were collected at an official weather station located about 0.8 km from the experimental site. Thermal units were calculated as:
![]() |
Cumulative early season cold units were calculated as described by Kittock et al. (1987):
![]() |
Statistical analyses were performed using analysis of variance. Planting date main effect means were averaged across genotypes and seed treatments (Exp. 1) or foliar treatments (Exp. 2) when the interactions were not significant or meaningful. Means were separated by use of a protected LSD at P
0.05.
| RESULTS |
|---|
|
|
|---|
|
Dry matter partitioning and canopy light interception data collected during the prebloom growth period for the last year of the first experiment (1998) and for both years of the second experiment demonstrate the greater early season growth in the early vs. normal plantings (Table 2). Averaged over the 3 yr, canopy light interception was 55% greater and LAI was 172% greater in plots of the early planting at this sampling compared with plots of the normal planting. Each year, by this early June sampling, plants in the early planting had shifted some of their dry matter production into reproductive growth (fruiting buds). Only in 1998, however, had the normal planted plants initiated reproductive growth by this sampling date. Dry matter production and light interception differences between planting dates were more pronounced in 1999 due the greater thermal unit accumulation (Table 3) and reduced cold unit accumulation (Table 1) during April in 1999 compared with 1998 or 2000 (Table 3).
|
|
|
|
In both experiments, planting date altered the lint yield production and yield components. Even though a significant year x planting date interaction prevented averaging planting date means across years, similar variances among years allowed for a pooling of error terms across years to test for significance using a combined analysis. Therefore, only one LSD for each experiment was produced to separate planting date means within years.
In 2 out of the 3 yr of the first experiment, early planted cotton yielded significantly more lint (about 8%) than did cotton in the normal planting (Table 4). The yield components primarily responsible for this lint yield increase in 1996 were the number of bolls m-2 and lint percentage. The previously mentioned early season cold stress combined with the exposure of the early planted crop to substantially more cold units in 1997 (Table 1) limited the yield performance of the early planted crop. Nonetheless, plants in the early planting yielded comparable to plants in the normal planting in 1997. In 1998, boll mass was 6% greater, seed mass was 3% greater, and lint index was 7% greater for the early planting compared with the normal planting. Maturity for the early planted crop (as demonstrated by % first harvest) was reached earlier in the year than the normal planted. On average, 76% more of the total lint yield was picked on the first harvest for the early planted cotton compared with the normal planted.
|
|
|
|
Shifting the reproductive growth to periods of the year that historically have favorable weather patterns, allowed the early planted cotton to produce 10% higher yields in 4 out of the 5 yr across the two experiments (Tables 4 and 5). While the additional sunlight during reproductive growth undoubtedly helped, avoiding having to set the majority of the bolls during late July and August, which is historically the hottest and driest time of the year at Stoneville (Boykin et al., 1995), was probably the primary reason behind the yield increases observed with early planting. In addition, the earlier maturity of the crop provided by early planting may allow elimination of some late season inputs such as additional insecticide treatments or irrigation. The risk of early season cold temperature stress was evident for the early planted crop during the only year (1997) that planting date demonstrated no yield increase. Even though the plants sustained stunting from the early cold stress that year, there was not a yield penalty incurred relative to the 1 May planting by gambling to plant earlier than normal. The development of cotton genotypes with enough early season cold tolerance to be able to withstand early season cold stress should contribute to more consistent yield increases from planting early.
Attempts to mitigate problems arising from cold temperature stress during early planting via chemical means were not successful. Neither the PGR-IV seed treatment from the first experiment nor the foliar applications of mefluidide, or a mixture of mefluidide and diethanolamine, or ethephon from the second experiment had any demonstrable effect on plant growth or yield relative to the untreated control, even during the 1997 growing season when the severe cold period occurred (data not shown). This lack of effectiveness of these compounds in imparting cold tolerance to cotton could be because the compounds simply may not work in this regard in a field situation or because the cold stress either did not occur or was so severe that it overwhelmed any degree of cold tolerance that these compounds may have imparted. In addition, the timing of application of the foliar compounds in the second experiment may not have been optimized since they needed to be applied before the onset of cold stress.
In conclusion, an early planted production system for cotton has potential to produce increased lint yields for cotton producers. In achieving this potential yield boost, early planting shifts the risks from the high temperatures, moisture deficits, and high insect infestations found late in the growing season to cold temperature stress and seedling disease pressure early in the year. In addition, earlier planting dates may could give producers more options in spreading their risks over a wider range of planting dates. To make the yield increases more consistent, new cotton genotypes with increased early season cold tolerance need to be developed to address this shift in risk from late season to early season stresses. Seeding rates and other production practices that are needed to ensure adequate stand establishment under the more stressful conditions connected with early planting need to be defined and optimized. These results should also be validated in larger plots that are spindle-picked.
| ACKNOWLEDGMENTS |
|---|
| NOTES |
|---|
|
|
|---|
| REFERENCES |
|---|
|
|
|---|
This article has been cited by other articles:
![]() |
W. T. Pettigrew, W. T. Molin, and S. R. Stetina Impact of Varying Planting Dates and Tillage Systems on Cotton Growth and Lint Yield Production Agron. J., August 31, 2009; 101(5): 1131 - 1138. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
N. B. O'Berry, J. C. Faircloth, M. A. Jones, D. A. Herbert Jr., A. O. Abaye, T. E. McKemie, and C. Brownie Differential Responses of Cotton Cultivars when Applying Mepiquat Pentaborate Agron. J., January 8, 2009; 101(1): 25 - 31. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
W. T. Pettigrew and J. J. Adamczyk Jr. Nitrogen Fertility and Planting Date Effects on Lint Yield and Cry1Ac (Bt) Endotoxin Production Agron. J., May 3, 2006; 98(3): 691 - 697. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
H. Tewolde, K. R. Sistani, D. E. Rowe, A. Adeli, and T. Tsegaye ESTIMATING COTTON LEAF AREA INDEX NONDESTRUCTIVELY WITH A LIGHT SENSOR Agron. J., June 17, 2005; 97(4): 1158 - 1163. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| HOME | HELP | FEEDBACK | SUBSCRIPTIONS | ARCHIVE | SEARCH | TABLE OF CONTENTS |
| The SCI Journals | Crop Science | Vadose Zone Journal | |||
| Journal of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Education |
Soil Science Society of America Journal | ||||
| Journal of Plant Registrations | Journal of Environmental Quality |
The Plant Genome | |||