Systems Agronomic and Economic Evaluation of Cotton Varieties in ...

Results and Discussion:Acknowledgments:Disclaimer Clause:This location was planted flat into wheat stubble. Agronomic data including plantpopulation, nodes above white flower (NAWF), boll storm resistance, and finalplant map data are included in Tables 1-3.Significant differences were noted for lint and seed turnouts only at this location(Table 4). Lint turnout was significant at the 0.10 level averaged 33.8% with ahigh of 36.4% and low of 32.3% for FiberMax 2011GT and NexGen 3348B2RF,respectively. Bur cotton yield averaged 3535 lb/acre resulting in an average lintyields across all varieties of 1195 lb/acre. Lint loan values averaged $0.5710/lband when adding lint and seed value, total value averaged $912.95/acre. Aftersubtracting ginning, seed costs and technology fees, the average net value/acreacross varieties was $737.19/acre and differences among varieties were notsignificant.Significant differences were observed among varieties for all fiber qualityparameters at this location (Table 5). Micronaire values ranged from a low of 3.7for All-Tex Nitro-44 B2RF to a high of 4.3 for Deltapine 0912B2RF. Stapleaveraged 36.3 across all varieties with a high of 38.7 for All-Tex Nitro-44 B2RF anda low of 35.1 for Stoneville 4288B2F. Uniformity ranged from a high of 83.5% forAll-Tex Nitro-44 B2RF to a low of 80.9% for Stoneville 4288B2F with a test averageof 82.3%. Strength ranged from a low of 28.5 g/tex for Stoneville 4288B2F to ahigh of 34.5 g/tex for All-Tex Nitro-44 B2RF. Elongation averaged 10.3% acrossvarieties with a high of 11.0% for Croplan Genetics 3428B2RF and a low of 9.4%for FiberMax 2011GT. Leaf grades were mostly 2 and 3. Color gradecomponents of Rd (reflectance) and +b (yellowness) averaged 79.7 and 8.0,respectively and resulted in color grades of mostly 21 and 31.These data indicate that similar yields and economic returns can be obtained withmultiple varieties under similar growing conditions. However, as evidenced byprevious and current variety test results from other locations, significantdifferences can be obtained in terms of net value/acre due to variety selection.Additional multi-site and multi-year applied research is needed to evaluatevarieties across a series of environments.Appreciation is expressed to Cody Gruhlkey for the use of his land, equipment andlabor for this demonstration. Further assistance with this project was provided byDr. Jane Dever - Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center, Lubbock,and Dr. Eric Hequet - Associate Director, Fiber and Biopolymer Research Institute,Texas Tech University. Furthermore, we greatly appreciate the TexasDepartment of Agriculture - Food and Fiber Research for funding of HVI testing.Trade names of commercial products used in this report are included only forbetter understanding and clarity. Reference to commercial products or tradenames is made with the understanding that no discrimination is intended and noendorsement by the Texas A&M System is implied. Readers should realize thatresults from one experiment do not represent conclusive evidence that the sameresponse would occur where conditions vary.75