Cotton!

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Cotton!
AGRO 1033
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History

• Cultivated for the past 6000 years in Egypt,
  India, Asia and the Americas.
• Used primarily as a fiber crop.
• Very profitable crop in the early 1800s in the
  U.S. due to world demand.
• Almost devastated in the late 1800s by the boll
  weevil.
• A prestigious, expensive and difficult crop to
  grow.

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Botany

• Warm season
• Perennial (grown as an annual though)
• Woody shrub
• C3
• Indeterminate
• Dicot with cotyledonary leaves
• Malvaceae family

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Botany Two main groups.

• - Old World cotton
• - diploids (2n)
• - G. arboreum
• - G. herbaceum
• - New World cotton
• - allo tetraploids (4n)
• - G. hirsutum
• - G. barbadense

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Botany Six main cultivated types in U.S.

• 1. Eastern
• - Bred for eastern
• U.S. (Carolinas,
• GA, FL)
• - Fusarium wilt resistant.
• 2. Delta
• - MS alluvial areas
• - Heat, humidity
• tolerant.

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Botany Six main cultivated types.

• 3. Plains
• - Bred for SW plains,
• TX, OK, NM
• - Short, stocky,
• compact bolls.
• 4. Acala
• - CA, AZ, NM arid
• regions, most irrigated.
• - High quality fiber

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Botany Six main cultivated types.

• 5. Pima
• - Separate class
• - Long growing
• season
• - Very high quality
• and long fiber
• 6. Sea Island
• - G. barbadense
• species
• - High quality fiber
• - Long growing season

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Cotton Lint

• Elongated epidermal cells off seed coat.
• Hollow, twisted.
• Cellulose.
• No artificial fiber like it.

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The cotton plant
Seedling
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The cotton plant
General growth cycle
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The cotton plant
Flowering
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The cotton plant
Flowering
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The cotton plant
Fruit (boll) development
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Two types of cotton branches.

• MONOPODIUM.
• Vegetative
• 1st 4-6 nodes

• SYMPODIUM.
• Fruiting.
• Nodes 5-7

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The cotton plant
Branches grow at 3/8 turn to give a twist
shape. This is the phyllotaxy.
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The cotton plant
Being an indeterminate, cotton grows Both upward,
and outward on fruiting Branches.
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The cotton plant
Mapping cotton positions
The cotyledon node is 0, the next main Branch
node is 1 and so forth.
example
Position 10.2
Main node
Branch node
Main node 10
1
3
10
2
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Fruit position no. 2
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The cotton plant
The nodes above white flower (NAWF) Decreases
with maturity. This is used To monitor the crop
growth and to Time late season management
practices.
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Cotton production
planting

• Mid-April to mid-May
• 30 38 in rows
• About 44000 seeds/acre
• Well-drained loamy soil best
• Seed fungicide treatments standard
• Insecticides, nematicides, and other fungicides
  sometimes added.

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Cotton production
Variety selection

• Options
• - conventional
• - Bt insect resistance
• transgenics (eg., BG,
• BGII).
• - Herbicide resistant
• transgenics (eg., RR).
• Look at University yield
• trials, company
• literature.
• Use good agronomic
• practices.

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Cotton production
Insect management early season

• Cutworms
• - soil larvae
• - cut down seedlings
• - insecticides
• Thrips
• - very tiny insects
• - suck sap
• - control with in-furrow
• or foliar insecticides.

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Cotton production
Insect management mid season

• Plant bugs
• - three species
• - feed on squares
• - careful scouting
• - insecticides

Tarnished
Clouded
Cotton fleahopper
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Cotton production
Insect management late season

• Heliothis larvae
• - two species
• - cotton bollworm
• - tobacco
• budworm
• - Bt transgenics
• (eg., BG, BGII)
• - insecticides

Cotton bollworm
Tobacco budworm
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Cotton production
Insect management late season

• Stinkbug
• - three species
• - green
• - brown
• - Southern
• - careful scouting
• - insecticides

Green
Brown
Southern Green
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Cotton production
Insect management late season

• Other insects
• - spider mite
• - cotton aphid
• - whitefly
• - armyworm
• - looper
• - careful scouting
• - insecticides

Spider mites
Cotton aphids
whiteflies
Fall armyworm
Looper
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Where is the boll weevil?
The state and regional Boll Weevil Eradication
Program has just about eliminated this problem.
It is a grower/ government financed program that
involves aggressive monitoring and spraying
insecticides. However.
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There are a few sub-species of this pest out
there that are proving to be HIGHLY resistant to
all control efforts. They are extremely ornery,
tough and elusive. If you see any, call the
authorities!
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Cotton ProductionSoil management

• Soil test!
• Best pH 5.8 7.0
• P, K applied pre-plant
• N management
• - rates vary by variety, soil, range 90-150
• lbs N/acre
• - 50-60 lbs N/bale needed
• - apply ½ N pre-plant, ½ at first bloom

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Cotton ProductionSoil management

• Examples of tillage systems
• Conventional, 38 in rows, raised beds.
• Flat planted.
• Narrow row 30 in.
• No-till.
• Fallow seed bed planting.
• Cotton prefers a well-drained loamy soil.

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Cotton harvesting
Pre-harvest management
Defoliation Defoliants are applied to
cotton to improve harvest and fiber quality.
Boll Openers Boll openers are
ethylene releasing PGRs that allow mature bolls
to open up, thereby improving harvest efficiency.
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Cotton harvesting
Types of harvest equipment.
6-row cotton picker
Cotton stripper
Cotton module
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Ginning cotton
From Eli Whitneys gin to ..
The modern high speed gin of today.
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Fiber quality

• Color main one.
• Trash content.
• Fiber length.
• Measured in 32nds
• of an inch, eg., a 34 is 1 1/16 in.
• Length uniformity.
• Measured in .

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Fiber quality

• Micronaire.
• A measure of fiber
• fineness and
• maturity.
• Premium range
• 37-42
• Base ranges
• 35-36, 43-49

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Fiber quality

• Fiber strength.
• Measured in g/texx.

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Cotton classification

• 12 USDA classification offices in U.S.
• Every bale classed!
• HVI High Volume Instrumentation.
• Two Classes
• American Upland
• Pima

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Cotton classification

• Example grades
• SLM White strict
• low middling
• GM Lt Sp
• Light spotted
• good middling
• SM Tg
• Tinged strict
• middling
• About 25 grades in all.

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Cotton mouth!
Dont pick this one!
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Cotton from planting ..
to harvest - always a challenge!
Any questions?