Comparative Plant Growth and Development in two Cotton Rotations under Irrigated and Non‐Irrigated Conditions

Abstract

Incorporating perennial grasses such as bahiagrass (Paspalum notatum Fluegge) to diversify the conventional two‐crop rotation of peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.) and cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) prevalent in the U.S. Southeast (SE) is advocated. However, little is reported on growth and development for cotton grown in rotation with perennial grasses. Our objectives were to compare plant characteristics including height, leaf area index (LAI), chlorophyll meter readings (chlorophyll index), N uptake, weed densities, and residual soil nutrients in a conventional rotation of peanut‐cotton‐cotton vs. a bahiagrass‐bahiagrass‐peanut‐cotton rotation. Field studies were conducted in Quincy, FL from 2000 to 2006. Plant height, LAI and N, P, and K uptake were generally greater for cotton in the bahiagrass rotation compared to the conventional cotton/peanut rotation. Weed densities were reduced for cotton in the bahiagrass rotation. Residual nutrients at the end of the season including N, P, and K and soil organic matter (SOM) showed no differences between the rotations. In spite of the improvements in plant growth characteristics, rotating cotton with bahiagrass overall did not improve yield above the conventional rotation. Potential exists for greater cotton yield in the bahiagrass rotation once effective management practices have been identified.

Weed Seed Banks Are More Dynamic in a Sod-Based, Than in a Conventional, Peanut–Cotton Rotation

“…A long-term experiment was established in Quincy, FL, in 1999 to compare the proposed sodbased rotation with the conventional peanut-cotton rotation. The results of this experiment demonstrated that peanut and cotton yields were similar or higher in the sod-based rotation than they were in the conventional peanut-cotton rotation (Katsvairo et al 2007(Katsvairo et al , 2009. Additionally, in the cotton phase weed populations in the sod-based rotation were lower than in the conventional rotation (Katsvairo et al 2009).…”

“…In north Florida, row-crop growers rely predominantly on a peanut-cotton rotation (Katsvairo et al 2009). The peanut phase lasts generally a single year and is followed by 2 yr of consecutive cotton (Zhao et al 2009).…”

“…Therefore, it is not uncommon to find row-crop farms and cattle ranches intermixed in the southeast US landscape. For this reason, a sod-based rotation was proposed to introduce bahiagrass as a third crop into the cotton-peanut rotation for this area (Katsvairo et al 2006(Katsvairo et al , 2009. Bahiagrass is the most-common grass species used on cattle ranches because of its adaptation to southeast soils and climate.…”

Crop rotation, irrigation system, and irrigation rate on cotton yield in southwestern Georgia

“…They did see a rotation yield response to increased N and P fertilizer. In other research, Katsvairo, Wright, Marois, Rich, and Wiatrak (2009) showed that cotton with Bahia grass rotations reduced weed densities and increased plant height, leaf area index, and N, P, and K uptake. However, with all these crop phenology increases, yield did not increase compared with conventional rotations with peanut.…”

Long-term experiments and strip plot designs

“…LTEs and strip plot designs are both schemes followed in agriculture and other field experiments, but, to our knowledge, a complete analysis of data coming from a long-term strip plot design of experiments is absent in the literature. Even if the experiment was conducted according to a long-term strip plot one, data are not analyzed appropriately [5], for example, consider an experiment where treatments were arranged in a strip plot design and observed over six years, but separate analyses for each year are presented. Federer and King [4] describe how to combine results from a strip plot experiment over several sites, but the approach cannot be immediately extended to the case of several years (long-term), though theoretically considered by the authors at the beginning of the book chapter.…”