CSIRO efforts through variety trials reap high cotton yields
13 Jul '05
5 min read
“ In each valley it has averaged over 4 bales/acre, except for the Balonne, and in one crop Sicot 71BR actually averaged 6 bales an acre,” James Quinn said.
“In the 68 commercial crops that we have data for at the moment, 95 per cent came back with a very good micronaire, between 3.5 to 4.9, and 98 per cent of those crops went 28 grams per tex or more, with all crops above 35 in length, and 82 per cent going 36 or better, which is very pleasing.”
While noting that most of the high yields had been achieved in fallow fields, he said there had also been some outstanding Sicot 71 BR results in back-to-back fields, outperforming all other varieties that it was compared to, including Sicot 289BR and DP 556BGII/RR grown on similar farms under similar management.
However, he acknowledged that Sicot 71BR grown in fallow fields had slightly better length than in back-to-back fields.
David Kelly, CSD's agronomist in the Macintyre, based at Goondiwindi, has been researching the reasons for the exceptional yields achieved by Sicot 71BR over such a wide area.
Some 30 individual crops were examined at picking time, segmenting each plant boll from eight different sections of the plant in a number of metres of row within each crop.
The samples from each section were then ginned with a 10-gin saw to obtain yields, and HVI tested for fibre quality.
Armed with this data, the CSD extension and development team was then able to determine which segment of the plant was responsible for the highest yield and fibre quality results.
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