Effect of cultivars and sowing dates on yield and quality of Gossypium hirsutum L. crop

Abstract

Earliness in a cotton cultivar is important to minimize exposure of the primary fruiting cycle to the hot, humid monsoon weather which increases fruit loss and abortion resulted in lower yield potential. Thus, the studies were conducted with the objective to describe a range of sowing dates and conditions which represent an optimum time for planting cotton in an arid sub-tropical climate in the areas of sub-recent flood plains, on silt loam soils during the years of 2004 and 2005 at Central Cotton Research Institute (CCRI), Multan, Pakistan. Two cultivars, CIM-473 (medium) and CIM-482 (tall), were sown on three sowing dates of May 10, June 1 and June 20 during the two consecutive crop seasons. Observations for yield attributes; such as number of bolls m -2 , boll weight, seed index, seed cotton yield and ginning out turn and quality parameters, staple length, fibre strength, micronaire, yellowness and brightness, were recorded. The results revealed that cotton yield and quality were reduced with later planting dates. The data were analyzed statistically by using the MSTAT software, which showed that both the cultivars with early sowing produced gave higher yield and quality as compared to the late sowing date. Probably it may be due to better utilization of agro-resources. So, early sowing of cotton in primary (conventional) zone of Pakistan is recommended for optimum harvesting of agro-environmental factors and higher economic benefits for the farming community like other cotton producing countries.