Page 16 - 05 Cotton SA March 2015

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Soil temperature – October 2013
Finding the right cultivar continued from p 15

planting dates with an average yield of
5941.0kg.ha . The cultivar CandiaB2RF had
-1
the highest average yield for the eighth
planting date (25-Nov-13) with a yield of
-1
5126.4kg.ha .
Each treatment, representing a specifi c
planting date, was hand picked when ready
and cotton fi bres were not exposed for too
long to fi eld weathering. Thus, the degree
of Refl ection (Rd ≥ 75) and yellowness
(+b < 9) were within the respective
norms. Fibre qualities varied between the
diff erent planting dates, but were within Soil temperature – November 2013
the respective norms. None of the cultivars
gave signifi cantly better fi bre qualities for a
specifi c planting date.
It was concluded that identifi cation of
a specifi c cultivar most suitable for a
specifi c planting date was very diffi cult as
the outcome of the trial was aff ected by
fl uctuations of the environmental factors.
As such, the study is currently being
repeated at ARC-Loskop Research farm,
Groblersdal, to make sound conclusions.
Cotton SA’s fi nancial support for this trial is
gratefully acknowledged.

Figure 2. Daily soil temperature ate ARC – Loskop Research farm, Groblersdal, during October
and November 2013.

Germination %

Figure 3. Germination percentage at 7 and 14 days after planting.
Yield kg.ha
-1

Figure 4. Eff ects of soil temperature on cotton
stand. Left: plant stand at cooler (7-Oct-13) and;
Right: plant stand at warmer (Nov-13)
Figure 5. Eff ects of planting date on the yield of seed cotton by diff erent cultivars.

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Katoen SA Cottontoen SA Cotton
Ka 16 January-March 2015