Cotton Yield Phenotyping

The ongoing Texas drought and the depletion of underground water resources make the ability to measure the effects of water on cotton yield critical. In-season phenotyping work has been a significant part of the cotton physiology research efforts in recent years. We are extending on this research by linking growth and fiber production traits to overall yield and fiber quality. In this poster, we present a method that increases the accuracy of yield estimates in cotton without requiring mechanical harvest. Twelve cotton cultivars were grown on seven subsurface drip irrigation levels, replicated three times in a split plot design with irrigation as the main plot and cultivar as the split plot. In-season measurements of plant height, canopy temperature, ground cover fraction, and vegetation index were compared with overall yield. In addition, end-of-season three dimensional remote sensing measurements of boll number and size were compared with mapping of boll distribution to ascertain whether end-of-season measurements can accurately portray yields without mechanical harvest. We discovered a link between our measurements and overall yield and fiber quality.