Profitability and Yield Of Cotton Cultivars Affected By Irrigation Level and Episodic Drought In West Texas

Water management is a very important factor in irrigated cotton production systems. The field experiments were conducted at the Texas Tech New Deal and Quaker Avenue research farms during the 2010, 2011 and 2012 seasons. Cultivars tested included FM1880, FM9170, FM9180, DP0912, DP0924, DP0935, DP09R555, DP1028 SIOKRA24, ACALA 1517-E2, FM832 and ST506. Episodic drought treatments included a full irrigation throughout the season; non-irrigation from squaring to flowering; 3 weeks of non-irrigation beginning at early flowering; 3 weeks of non-irrigation beginning at peak bloom; and non-irrigation beginning from peak bloom to the crop termination. The studies also included deficit irrigation, mild deficit irrigation and a dry land management started after crop establishment. The profitability and break-even price were calculated based on the 2010 season costs and returns. In 2010 the reduction in yield due to episodic drought treatments resulted in a reduction in profits and increase in the break-even price regardless of savings on irrigation costs. These results can be important to the development of more economically efficient water management strategies.