National Cotton Council of America
Beltwide Cotton Conferences
January 8-11, 2008
Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center
Nashville, Tennessee
The Cotton Foundation

Recorded Presentations

Delta Ballroom D (Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center)
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
4:30 PM - 10:00 PM
Delta Ballroom D (Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center)
Thursday, January 10, 2008
10:00 AM - 10:00 PM
Delta Ballroom D (Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center)
Friday, January 11, 2008
8:00 AM - 5:00 PM

Physiological Effects of 1-Methylcyclopropene on Well-Watered and Water-Stressed Cotton Plants

Eduardo Masakazu Kawakami and Derrick Oosterhuis. University of Arkansas, 1366 Altheimer Drive, Fayetteville, AR 72704

Physiological effects of 1-Methylcyclopropene on Well-Watered and Water-Stressed Cotton Plants

  Among all abiotic stress factors, drought is the major environmental constraint to crop productivity worldwide (Sharp et al., 2004). Even in irrigated or high rainfall areas, short periods of interruption of the water supply can increase fruit shed and decrease yield. Alleviation plant stress during dry periods could prevent yield loss and increase profits. The current study was designed to test the effect of 1-Methylcyclopropene (1-MCP) on alleviating the detrimental effect of drought in cotton plants. The experiment was carried in a large walk-in growth chamber at the Altheimer laboratory, Arkansas Agricultural Research and Extension Center in 2006 and 2007. The treatments consisted of: (T1) Untreated control well-watered, (T2) 1-MCP @ 10 g ai/ha well-watered, (T3) Untreated Control water-stressed, and (T4) 1-MCP @ 10 g ai/ha water-stressed. Measurements were made on transpiration, stomatal resistance, fluorescence, membrane integrity and water use efficiency. Results indicated that water-stressed plants treated with 1-MCP had a higher stomatal resistance and lower values of transpiration.  Calculations of water use efficiency  showed a slightly higher efficiency in both 1-MCP treatments compared with the untreated control treatments, but the values were not statistically significant (P<0.05). Chlorophyll fluorescence measurements showed numerically lower values of fluorescence in the 1-MCP treated plants within each water regime. Similar results were detected in the membrane integrity measurements. The 1-MCP treatments exhibited lower values of electrical conductivity than the untreated control within each water regime. These results indicated that application of 1-MCP to water-stressed cotton may be beneficial, but the study needs to be continued.