Skip to main content
ARS Home » Southeast Area » New Orleans, Louisiana » Southern Regional Research Center » Cotton Structure and Quality Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #119325
Title: VARIABILITY IN MICRONAIRE: SOURCES AND SIGNIFICANCE

Author
item Bradow, Judith
item JOHNSON, RICHARD - TEXAS TECH UNIVERSITY
item Bauer, Philip
item Sassenrath, Gretchen

Submitted to: National Cotton Council Beltwide Cotton Conference
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 1/20/2000
Publication Date: 1/20/2000
Citation: BRADOW, J.M., JOHNSON, R.M., BAUER, P.J., SASSENRATH COLE, G.F. VARIABILITY IN MICRONAIRE: SOURCES AND SIGNIFICANCE. NATIONAL COTTON COUNCIL BELTWIDE COTTON CONFERENCE. 2000.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Although genotype is the main determining factor in some cotton fiber properties, variations in growth environment are significant determinants of micronaire. When four Upland cotton genotypes were grown in a South Carolina planting-date study, the offsets in heat unit accumulation associated with staggered planting dates modulated micronaire and interacted with genotype to determine fiber circularity a major component of micronaire. Fiber cross-section, the other major component of micronaire, was also strongly related to both growth environment and genotype. Temperature altered the rate of fiber wall deposition and of micronaire increase. Post-harvest plant maps indicate that micronaire varies across fruiting sites, and site- specific fiber-quality maps corresponding to spatial variability in soil properties indicate that higher levels of soil phosphorus and percent organic matter were associated with increased fiber maturity and higher micronaire. Field sites highest in pH and calcium content produced more immature fiber with micronaire falling in the price- penalty range below 3.5, an effect that intensified with decreasing rainfall. Weather and edaphic spatial variability alter the ranges and means of micronaire and other fiber properties so that strategies for improving or managing cotton intrinsic fiber quality clearly must incorporate the effects of growth environment on genetic traits being introduced.