Evaluating Skip-Row Planting As a Drought Adaption Strategy for Cotton

Farmers can use a variety of technologies to conserve water and enhance resilience to drought. One of these technologies is skip-row planting. In 2013, a study was conducted to evaluate and demonstrate the yield and economic benefits of using skip-row planting as a drought adaptation strategy in dryland cotton production in South Carolina.  Replicated experiments were established in two fields in Barnwell County, SC, one in a farmer’s field and the other at the Edisto REC farm. At the farmer’s field, single-skip and solid-planted cotton were compared. At the Edisto REC farm, four cotton planting configurations, including Solid-Planting, Single-Skip, Double-Skip, and Alternate-Skip, were compared. We found that at the Edisto REC farm the average yields were 765, 831, 1129, and 964 lb/acre for the Alternate-Skip, Double-Skip, Single-Skip, and Solid-Planting, respectively. Yield for the Single-Skip treatment was significantly higher than for the other planting configurations. The yield for the Single-Skip was 165 lb/acre higher than for the Solid.  At the farmer’s field, the average yield for the single-skip cotton was 1088 lb/acre, compared to 939 lb/acre for the solid-planted cotton.  This was an average difference of 149 lb/acre, which was not significantly different. Economic analysis showed that the Single-Skip planting produced an average of $169/acre of additional revenue (crop income minus cost of seeds) compared to Solid-Planting in both fields, while Alternate-Skip and Double-Skip, produced less revenue (13.5% less) than Solid-planting.