AgriLife Extension’s 2013 southern on-farm cotton variety results available

By Kay Ledbetter

Results of this year’s “Replicated Agronomic Cotton Evaluation (RACE) for South, East and Central Regions of Texas” trials have been compiled and are available to producers, according to Dr. Gaylon Morgan, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service state cotton specialist in College Station.

“Variety selection is the most important decision made during the year,” Morgan said. “Unlike herbicide or insecticide decisions that can be modified during the season to address specific conditions and pests, variety selection is made only once, and variety selection dictates the management of a field for the entire season.

“Also, it is common to observe more than 25 percent yield differences between the varieties, which can have a substantial impact on a producer’s profitability.”

To assist cotton producers in the Lower Rio Grande Valley, Blacklands, South Texas, Wintergarden and Upper Coastal Bend regions with these decisions, AgriLife Extension’s Cotton Agronomy Program has been conducting large plot, on-farm, replicated variety trials for the past eight years, Morgan said.

“This approach provides a good foundation of information that can be utilized to assist the variety selection process,” he said. “These trials are a joint effort among the cooperating producers, AgriLife Extension, and the seed industry to provide the highest quality information possible to cotton producers.

“The cooperating producers plant, harvest and manage the large-plot trials like they do the rest of their farm. So, cotton yield and quality reflect the real-world management decisions and local conditions, including soil type and other yield influencing factors.”

Producers can find the list of cooperators, planting and harvest dates, row spacing and plot area for each of 20 Replicated Agronomic Cotton Evaluation Trials planted in 2013 online at http://cotton.tamu.edu . Results include yield, fiber quality and estimated lint value for each location, as well as rankings based upon lint yield for the varieties within a production region.

Morgan recognized AgriLife Extension personnel contributing to the variety evaluations, including: Dale Mott, program specialist in College Station; Dr. Dan Fromme, agronomist in Corpus Christi; county agents and integrated pest management agents.

However, he said, these trials would not be possible without the tremendous support from the producer cooperators and seed company representatives. In addition, Cotton Incorporated, through the Texas State Support Committee, provided partial funding of these trials.

Reflecting on the 2013 cotton-growing season, this year began with extremely dry to adequate soil moisture profile levels in most regions of the state at the time of planting, he said. The Lower Rio Grande Valley and Lower Gulf Coast regions had very low soil moisture levels and numerous planned trials were abandoned as a result of insufficient moisture to establish a stand.

Even in regions with sufficient planting moisture, obtaining an adequate stand was a challenge due to a string of several cold and wet weather events in the spring, Morgan said. As a result, many producers needed to replant multiple times and delayed planting for others.

The locations that were able to get a stand up and growing generally made an average to above average crop, especially considering the abnormally dry conditions that persisted throughout most of the state this year, Morgan said.

Average yields ranged from 2,207 pounds per acre for the Weslaco irrigated location to 686 pounds per acre for the Nueces County location. The average dryland location yields ranged from 1,392 pounds per acre for Milam County to 738 pounds per acre for Dewitt County.

All the cottonseed companies with RoundupFlex or Glytol and Bt2 or Widestrike technology had the opportunity to include at least one variety in the RACE trial at each location. All varieties were treated with either Aeris or Avicta Complete Pak seed treatment. Included in this publication are the cotton variety descriptions provided by each company.

In addition to the RACE trials, two Monster Cotton Variety Trials, small plot replicated trials in Hidalgo and Matagorda counties, were conducted by Fromme and the final yields and grades are also reported in the publication.