Robert R. Dobbs1, N.W. Buehring1, M. H. Willcutt2, and M.P. Harrison1. (1) North Mississippi Research and Extension Center, P.O. Box 1690, Verona, MS 38879, (2) Mississippi State University, Box 9632, Mississippi State, MS 39762
A two-year (2004-2005) study on a very fine sandy loam soil at Clarksdale, MS and 4-year (2003-2006) studies on silt loam soils at Verona, MS and Falkner, MS evaluated cotton growth, maturity and yield response to different row patterns in non-irrigated systems. The row patterns used in the study were 15, 30, and 38-inch row solid cotton, 15-inch rows with a 2 x 1 skip-row (2 rows of cotton with a 30-inch skip), 15-inch row 2 x 2 skip-row (2 rows with a 45-inch skip), 30-inch rows with a 1 x 1 skip-row (cotton in 60-inch rows), 30-inch rows with a 2 x 1 skip-row (2 rows with a 60-inch skip), and 38-inch rows with a 2 x 1 skip-row (2 rows with a 76-inch skip). Seeding rates were 4 seed/ft of row for all 38-inch rows and 3 seed/ft of row for all 30 and 15-inch row patterns. All cotton plots were harvested with John Deere PRO 12VRS picker units that were adjustable for all row patterns. The seed cotton from plots were ginned with a mini-gin (state of the art cotton gin equivalent to a commercial gin). Maturity, plant height at harvest, plant stem diameter at harvest and yields will be shown in this report.
