Thursday, January 11, 2007 - 3:00 PM

Plant Growth Regulator Timings in 15 Inch Cotton

Gary S. Hamm, Keith L. Edmisten, James E. Lanier, Guy D. Collins, and Andrew D. Hunt. North Carolina State University, Campus Box 7620, Raleigh, NC 27695-7620

Abstract

Cotton grown on a 15 inch row spacing is an idea that is starting to make headway in the cotton industry. There are aspects of producing 15 inch cotton that are raising many questions in the cotton industry about this closer row pattern. One of the questions raised is can the same PGR recommendations for wide row cotton be applied to the 15 inch system or could it be modified to better fit narrower row spacing. So the purpose of this experiment is to determine the most optimum PGR strategy in 15 Inch Cotton. Field experiments were conducted in 2006 at Upper Coastal Plains Research Station, Rocky Mount, NC and an on-farm trial was conducted in Beulaville, NC. The cotton variety DP 143 BG/Round up Flex was planted on May 4, 2006 in Rocky Mount and May 12, 2006 in Beulaville. Treatments for both locations consisted of 2 oz/ac and 4 oz/ac rates of Pentia (mepiquat pentaborate) was applied at the 4th,6th,and 8th leaf stages, split applications of 2 oz/ac of Pentia was applied at the 4th,6th,and 8th leaf stages and 10 oz/ac applied at early bloom for each of these treatments, split applications of 4 oz/ac of Pentia was applied at the 4th,6th,and 8th leaf stages and 8 oz/ac applied at early bloom for each of these treatments, a modified early bloom application of Pentia at 6 oz/ac and 6 oz/ac at early bloom, and a final treatment of Pentia at 12oz/ac was applied at early bloom. Data taken for these experiments consisted of heights and total node data to be taken at each PGR application timing, heights, nodes, and nodes above white flower (NAWF) at mid-season. Six plants will be cut out of each plot at harvest to be box mapped. The purpose of box mapping will be to group bolls into node zones 3-5, 6-10, 11-15, and 16-20 by position with all boll weights recorded as grams of seed cotton to look for differences in boll weights by position. Lint samples will be taken and weighed at harvest and ginned using a saw tooth cotton gin to determine percent gin out, yield, and fiber quality. With this information available at hand there is a possibility that growers with 15 inch cotton will be able to take advantage of reducing trips across the field and make their PGR applications at earlier growth stages at lower rates and get the same effect of as applying PGR's at higher rates at later growth stages.


Recorded presentation