Amanda R. Ziehl1, W. Don Shurley1, Glen L. Ritchie2, and Lola C. Sexton2. (1) Dept. of Agricultural and Applied Economics, University of Georgia, PO Box 1209, 15 RDC Road, Tifton, GA 31794, (2) University of Georgia Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, NESPAL - Tifton Campus, P.O. Box 748, Tifton, GA 31793-0748
Irrigation and plant growth regulators (PGR) affect cotton growth, height, and development. Irrigation increases crop height and slows maturity, while PGRs, such as mepiquat chloride, decrease crop height and increase maturity. Irrigation and PGR application both increase cotton management costs. We examined the effects of varied irrigation and mepiquat chloride application based on remote sensing to test the effects of precision mepiquat chloride application on input costs, crop uniformity, crop quality, yield and net returns. Cotton was grown under a variable rate irrigation system at the Stripling Irrigation Research Park in Camilla, Georgia with four levels of irrigation and four replicates. Subplots within each irrigation plot had four levels of mepiquat chloride application. One was a full application, the second and third were based on varying levels of oversight based on aerial images during the season, and the fourth was a control treatment with no mepiquat chloride applied.
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