Pleasant Weather for People is a Worry for Cotton Producers

May 17, 2022

Conditions are scary dry in many of the fields across the state.

Alabama Cooperative Extension System Cotton Agronomist Steve Brown said only 26 percent of expected cotton acreage was in the ground by May 8—this according to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS). The five-year average is 35 percent.

“Being behind is less worrisome than being increasingly short on moisture with little relief in sight,” Brown said. “We’ve stopped planting some of our research trials because of drying conditions, but some farmers are pressing forward.”

Dusting In

Cotton seed can stay in the ground waiting for rain, but the concern of “dusting in” is the possibility of receiving only a light rain shower that germinates the seed but is not sufficient to sustain the seedling.

Brown said recent weather has been comfortable for humans, but it is increasingly challenging for young crops and worrisome for cotton producers. Cools mornings, low humidity, breezy, bright and sunny conditions are perfect for spring outdoor activities, but row crops are struggling.

The 10-day forecast calls for high temperatures in the 90s. This means plant stresses will surely increase.

Things to Watch

Pest Pressures

In dry conditions, it is also important to check for additional stressors—like insect pressures. Alabama Extension Cotton and Peanut Entomologist Scott Graham said the Alabama cotton insect situation is similar to the Alabama weather situation: all over the board.

Until May 11, calls about grasshoppers in the field were non-existent. Graham said calls are now coming in from west and central Alabama where grasshoppers are in fields with cotyledon stage cotton.

“A consistent theme was how to treat grasshoppers and thrips in a one-shot approach,” Graham said. “This can be difficult, considering the grasshopper population and the age of the cotton. Recommendations sometimes vary on a field-to-field basis.”

Graham also said it is important to choose the right insecticide for thrips sprays, particularly in dry fields and fields with historic issues with spider mites.

“Availability will likely drive some decisions and ‘softer’ chemistries may not be readily available, so be prudent and ensure that applications are only made when necessary,” Graham said.

Many producers continue to plant across the state. As they plant, they hope for enough rain to germinate the seeds and sustain the seedlings

Many producers continue to plant across the state. As they plant, they hope for enough rain to germinate the seeds and sustain the seedlings.

Prices

Brown said December 2022 futures continue to reach unprecedented highs—passing $1.25 per pound May 12.

“Surging prices suggest challenges across the U.S. Cotton Belt,” Brown said. “I’ve seen estimates indicating total input costs are up 40 percent—and yes, fertilizer is up at least three-fold.”

The growing season generally presents many challenges, but Brown said at present, the biggest and most immediate hurdle is getting the crop started.

Source : aces.edu

Video: Can Gene Editing Give Seeds a Stronger Start?

Reagan Reed has a way of describing his research that might make a plant breeder pause.

“I’m the sort of person who likes to break things to understand them,” he says.

What he breaks are genes involved in seed germination. Reed, a Ph.D. candidate at the University of California, Davis, is investigating whether changing those genes can help seeds establish healthy plants under a wider range of conditions.

Reed recently attended the National Association for Plant Breeding meeting in College Station, Texas, as an NAPB Borlaug Scholar. His work speaks to a question that matters well beyond a research lab: what does it take for a seed to get a crop off to a strong start?

A seed that germinates quickly, alongside the others planted with it, spends less time vulnerable to stresses before seedlings become established.

“If you’re able to bridge that gap between germination to stand establishment, then that’s going to give you the highest probability of having a solid yield that year,” Reed says. “There’s a bunch that can go wrong after that, but it maximises your yield from the start, at least.”

Reed works in Dr. Imtiyaz Khanday’s lab at UC Davis, where his research focuses on seed quality in tomatoes and potatoes. He brings an unusual academic background to the work: at Skidmore College, he studied both biology and Latin.

Reed believes that combination prepared him for research. Translating an ancient text means studying each word, weighing its possible meanings and using context to reach the best interpretation. There is rarely a way to know with complete certainty what an author intended. Science, he says, requires a similar willingness to work through uncertainty.

“Attention to detail and comfortability working with uncertainty,” is how he sums up what Latin taught him.

In the lab, uncertainty can produce a surprise. Reed describes changing one gene and seeing little effect. Changing a second gene also appears to do little. Put both changes in the same genetic background, though, and the result can be substantial.

“I break this gene, nothing really happens. I break this other gene, nothing really happens. I combine them into the same genetic background, and now there’s a massive effect,” he says.

Those interactions matter as researchers gain the ability to edit multiple genes at once. They also complicate any simple account of how a trait works: improving a seed may depend on understanding what several genes do together.

For Reed, the question is whether that knowledge could help seeds germinate reliably when conditions are difficult. Some of the genes he studies prevent germination under certain conditions. That response may serve a plant well in one setting while limiting its usefulness in agriculture. He wants to learn what happens when those genes are changed, and whether the result improves establishment.

Yet a discovery that works in a lab still has a long way to travel before it reaches a field. Reed argues that agricultural biotechnology faces an economic challenge as well as a scientific one. New tools can create value for farmers, he says, but developing them requires a way to support the work in an industry where margins can be thin.

His fellowship with Flagship Pioneering gave him a view across AI, agriculture-related work and human health research. It also reinforced the importance of bringing people with different expertise into the same conversation—a benefit of gatherings such as the NAPB meeting.

“You need to have a team of people with different backgrounds who are willing to work together and approach the same problem in different perspectives and different ways,” he says.

That thinking connects the different parts of Reed’s path. Latin taught him to examine details without expecting a perfect answer. Gene editing lets him test what individual genes do—and what happens when their effects combine. Working with people beyond his own field helps him ask what those findings could become.

He came to agriculture because of its reach: the possibility that work by a small group of researchers could eventually make a difference on a much larger scale. His immediate focus is smaller and more precise. He wants to understand what helps a seed get through its first days and become a healthy plant.