Skip to main content
ARS Home » Midwest Area » Columbia, Missouri » Cropping Systems and Water Quality Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #189608
Title: COMPARISON OF GROWTH AND YIELD COMPONENTS OF CONVENTIONAL AND ULTRA-NARROW ROW COTTON

Author
item VORIES, EARL
item GLOVER, ROBERT - UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS

Submitted to: Journal of Cotton Science
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 6/15/2006
Publication Date: 1/20/2007
Citation: Vories, E.D., Glover, R. 2007. Comparison of growth and yield components of conventional and ultra-narrow row cotton. Journal of Cotton Science. 10:235-243.

Interpretive Summary: The introduction of cotton cultivars with resistance to certain herbicides has greatly increased interest in production systems commonly referred to as ultra-narrow row (UNR). A study of UNR cotton production was conducted at the University of Arkansas Northeast Research and Extension Center at Keiser during the 1995 through 1997 growing seasons, comparing cotton grown in the UNR system with conventionally produced cotton. The UNR plants were shorter, with fewer fruiting branches, and had fewer bolls than the conventionally produced cotton. Determining the factors that varied between the systems will help lead to improvements in the UNR production system, allowing cotton to be produced more efficiently.

Technical Abstract: The introduction of transgenic cotton cultivars with resistance to certain herbicides has greatly increased interest in production systems commonly referred to as ultra-narrow row (UNR). A three-year study of UNR cotton production was conducted at the University of Arkansas Northeast Research and Extension Center at Keiser during the 1995 through 1997 growing seasons. The study compared cotton grown in 19-cm rows and harvested with a stripper to cotton produced in 97-cm rows and harvested with a spindle picker, the conventional system in much of the US. The UNR plants were shorter, with fewer nodes, and fewer total sympodia than the conventionally produced plants. The UNR plants also had fewer bolls, with a higher percentage of bolls in the first sympodial position and a lower percentage in the second position. Boll retention was low in all cases, and an average of fewer than 10% of the second position bolls were retained with UNR. Low yields observed in 1996 with both systems appeared to result from poor boll retention, which was the lowest of the three years in both the first and second sympodial positions.