Within Canopy Variation in Cotton Fiber Fineness and Maturity

Modern cotton cultivars, which offer high yield, are often subject to discounts resulting from poor quality. Louisiana, and the Delta region as a whole, is especially plagued with this problem due to the recent increasing trend in micronaire. Timely applications of harvest aids can help avoid high micronaire by prematurely opening upper canopy bolls. While this does reduce average micronaire by diluting total yield with immature, low micronaire, fibers, this solution defers the problem to producers to manage and results in less uniform crop quality. My research in progress addresses the problems associated with micronaire. This 2014 season will conclude the field portion of a two year research study which examines the with-in canopy distribution of fiber quality for five cultivars grown in two Louisiana locations. The objective of this research is to determine the stability of micronaire (dissected into fineness and maturity) across macro- and micro-environments.