Planting Density Induced Changes in Cotton Biomass Yield, Fiber Quality, and Phosphorus Distribution under Beta Growth Model
2019
Aziz Khan | Xiangjun Kong | Ullah Najeeb | Jie Zheng | Daniel Kean Yuen Tan | Kashif Akhtar | Fazal Munsif | Ruiyang Zhou
High input costs combined with multiple management and material inputs have threatened cotton productivity. We hypothesize that this problem can be addressed by a single fertilization at flowering with late sowing in a moderately populated plant stand. Field experiments were conducted to evaluate the cotton biomass accumulation, phosphorus dynamics, and fiber quality under three planting densities (low, 3 × 10<sup>4</sup>; moderate, 6 × 10<sup>4</sup>; and dense, 9 × 10<sup>4</sup> ha<sup>−1</sup>) and two cultivars (Zhongmian-16 and J-4B). High planting density had 6.2 and 12.6% larger stems and fruiting nodes m<sup>−2</sup>, while low density produced a 37.5 and 59.4% maximum height node ratio. Moderate density produced 26.4−15.5%, 24.7−12.6%, and 10.5−13.6% higher biomass accumulation rate at the peak bloom, boll set, and plant removal stages over low and high density in both years, respectively. J-4B produced a higher reproductive organs biomass yield when compared with Zhongmian-16 in both years. This higher biomass formation was due to both the higher average (0.8 V<sub>T</sub> kg·ha<sup>−1</sup>·d<sup>−1</sup>) and maximum (1.0 V<sub>M</sub> kg·ha<sup>−1</sup>·d<sup>−1</sup>) reproductive organ phosphorus uptake, respectively. Plants with low density had 5.3−18.5%, 9.5−15%, and 7.8−12.8% greater length, strength, and micronaire values over moderate and dense plants, respectively. Conclusively, moderate density with J-4B is a promising option for improved biomass, phosphorus acquisition, and fiber quality under a short season.
Show more [+] Less [-]AGROVOC Keywords
Bibliographic information
This bibliographic record has been provided by Directory of Open Access Journals