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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Florence, South Carolina » Coastal Plain Soil, Water and Plant Conservation Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #101125

Title: COTTON YIELD AND FIBER PROPERTIES AS INFLUENCED BY RESIDUE COVER, TILLAGE, AND ALDICARB

Author
item Bauer, Philip
item DURANT, JOHN - CLEMSON UNIV.
item FREDERICK, JAMES - CLEMSON UNIV.

Submitted to: Annual Southern Conservation Tillage Conference for Sustainable Agriculture
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 4/6/1999
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Coastal Plain fields generally contain several soil map units which results in crop variability. The objective of this experiment was to determine the effect of soil management techniques and in-furrow application of aldicarb on cotton yield and fiber properties in a typical Coastal Plain field. Treatments were residue cover (corn stubble, rye winter cover crop, or cotton stubble), tillage (conservation [CS] or conventional [CV]), and aldicarb application (1.07 lbs a.i./acre or none). 'DPL Acala 90' was planted into large plots that spanned across several soil types. Two harvesting methods were used. First, the large plots were subdivided into 44-ft-long sections, two rows in each section were harvested with a spindle picker, and average yield and fiber property values were calculated for the entire plot. Second, a 10-foot sample was hand-harvested from each of three soil map units (Bonneau sand, Eunola loamy sand, and Norfolk loamy sand) within each plot. For both methods of harvesting, residue cover did not influence cotton yield or fiber properties. Conservation tillage had higher yield than CV tillage, both with and without aldicarb. The cotton grown with CV tillage had higher micronaire than cotton grown with CS tillage. Otherwise, neither tillage nor aldicarb had an impact on fiber properties. Although lint yield was greater for CS tillage than for CV tillage when harvested with a spindle picker and averaged over entire plots, the hand-harvested data revealed that the yield increase with CS tillage was soil map unit specific. The response of cotton micronaire and fiber strength to tillage was also dependent on soil map unit. Conservation tillage did not appear to affect yield variability, but fiber properties were more uniform in CS tillage than in CV.