2013 Onfarm Assessment of Cotton Variety Performance

Cotton variety selection is one of the most important decisions a producer can make in a given season.  The maximum genetic potential for a particular environment is determined once seed is planted, and all other agronomic inputs help to maximize that potential.  Therefore, improper variety selection can be very costly to producers, necessitating the onfarm evaluation of variety performance across a wide range of environments in producers' fields.

The Extension Cotton Specialist Working Group and others established multiple replicated field trials to assess variety performance within each state.  This program has been recently expanded thanks to the Enhanced Variety Testing Program, supported by Cotton Incorporated, and much of this data can be found in the SeedMatrix program.  Due to the establishment of these large-plot replicated onfarm variety trials, agronomists are able to quickly evaluate and assess variety performance across a wide range of environmental conditions, soil types, degree of irrigation or rainfall patterns, grower management practices, etc., enabling producers to make accurate and timely variety decisions.