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Title: INFLUENCE OF REPEATED SOIL APPLIED HERBICIDES ON COTTON GROWTH AND YIELD

Author
item SHAW, D - MISS STATE UNIV
item HOLLOWAY, J - MISS STATE UNIV
item WEBSTER, E - MISS STATE UNIV
item Bryson, Charles

Submitted to: Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station Technical Bulletin
Publication Type: Experiment Station
Publication Acceptance Date: 4/18/1996
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: Fifteen to eighteen years ago cotton yields plateaued or seem to decline slightly throughout the U.S. Cotton Belt. Herbicides were implicated as one of the potential reasons for the decline. Experiments were established in 1984 at Mississippi State University to determine the long-term effects of several herbicides on the germination, growth, and yield of cotton. Over a ten-year period the herbicides in this experiment did not adversely affect cotton growth and yield when applied at the recommended rate. Each herbicide effectively controlled weeds that compete with cotton for light, moisture, and nutrients and no cotton yield decline was detected over the 10-year period.

Technical Abstract: Long-term experiments were established at Mississippi State University in 1984 to determine the effects of selected herbicides on the growth and yield of cotton. Herbicide treatments applied preplant incorporated (PPI) included trifluralin, fluchtoralin, and pendimethalin each at 0.56 and 1.1 kg/ha; preemergence (PRE) included MSMA at 3.3 and 6.6 kg/ha; fluometuron at 0.9 and 1.7 kg/ha and norflurazon at 1.1 and 2.2 kg/ha; and combinations of trifluralin at 0.56 kg/ha (PPI) followed by fluometuron at 0.9 kg/ha (PRE) plus MSMA at 3.3 kg/ha (PRE) or norflurazon at 1.1 kg/ha (PRE) plus MSMA at 3.3 kg/ha (PRE). Cotton growth was unaffected by any herbicide or herbicide combination. During 1992 and 1993, seed cotton yields exceeded 1000 kg/ha for each herbicide treatment except MSMA at 6.6 kg/ha (PRE) and norflurazon at 2.2 kg/ha (PRE), but these treatments did not differ from seed cotton yields in the herbicide free plots. Each of these herbicides effectively controlled several species of weeds that compete with cotton growth and yield.