Cotton- (Gossypium spp.) Production Technology
COTTON- (Gossypium spp.)
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| Cotton crop yield |
https://agriera.blogspot.com/2023/09/modern-agriculture-and-pakistan.html
https://agriera.blogspot.com/2023/09/production-technology-of-rice-part-1.html
(Gossypium arboreum L./ G. hirsutum L.) Cotton is the major crop used for fiber in Pakistan as its contribution in country's GDP is 1.6%. BT varieties of cotton as they consider high yielding varieties of cotton have been established in the last decade and these varieties are insect resistant. BT cotton production technology according to the department of agriculture is given below;
Seedbed Preparation
Seedbed preparation step is the most important step for a successful production from a land. The land for cotton cultivation should be well prepared as it should be porous in nature and if the soil is hard then you can make the soil porous by the use of machinery. As we know that the porous soil is most beneficial for the high production of cotton. Porous soils allows root penetration more easily into the soils. After harvesting of the previous crop, mix the residues of that crop into the soils as they contributes the major role in making the soil or land more porous. The machinery used in these actions should be disc plough, disc harrow, rotavator, chisel plough, cultivator. Seed bed should be prepared through deep ploughing after leveling the field by the use of laser land leveler.
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| leveled field |
Seedbed preparation should be as good as possible as it contains good water holding capacity, there should be no hard pan in the subsoils of the land. In case of the crops grown as green manure crop, such crops should be ploughed into the soils almost 30 days before sowing of cotton crop and after the ploughing of green manure crop into the soils, irrigate the land after 8-10 days of that ploughing. This process helps in decomposition of the residues and crop manure into the soils, 35-40 kg of urea should be used in that ploughing.
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| Green manure crop |
Sowing Of Seed
To make the crop healthy, timely sowing is very important. It is common for the farmers to sow cotton after the vegetable crop harvesting or when the land or soil is empty/ fallow. Usually early sowing done to avoid from virus attack. The important is that farmer should avoid the sowing in very low temperature because cotton favors summer high temperature with no frost. When temperature is as low as below 15oC then there is more chance of fungal attack on plant or seedling which can destroy the seedling. So the temperature should be more than 20oC at the time of sowing. The process of variety selection for the sowing depends upon the previous years crop details.
At sowing time it has to be in mind that with the sowing of Bt cotton varieties at least 18-20% traditional cotton varieties should also be sown with Bt cotton varieties, its because of the pests that attack on crops, with this process pests could not break the resistance level of the Bt varieties. In this case of sowing two varieties at one place then a farmer should spray pesticides at when the pest population increasing at the stage of economic threshold level.
Time of Sowing
Different Bt cotton varieties time of sowing differ in between the 15th April to 15th of May.
Seed Rate
For specific variety the seed rate should be different according to the label attached to the seed fro a certified seed. The main and important is that the seed should be certified, healthy, treated and should be obtained from the trusted sources because whole crop production depends on this.
For drilling 8-10 kg/acre (fuzzy), 4-6 kg/acre (delinted)
Ridge/ Bed / Furrows 5-6 kg/acre (fuzzy), 2-3 kg/acre (delinted)
Method of Sowing
Usually two methods are used for the sowing of cotton crop as discussed below;
1. Seed Drill Method
2. Sowing by Hand/Labor
Seed Drill Method
Drill method is an effective method, it should be used with the recommended row to row distance 2-2.5ft and plant-plant distance 12-15inches. Seed depth should be maintained about 2-2.5inches in the ground. The seed rows should be earthen down with soil by making furrows and ridges right after the first irrigation. By this action the water consumption will reduce up to 35-40%. This will also help in good management of weeds and the cotton crop plants height remains maintained, number of plants in an acre becomes effective germination and good and also helps in other practices or cultural practices like spray of pesticides and application of fertilizers. Second irrigation should be right after 3-4 days after first irrigation of field.
Sowing by Hand/Labor
The furrows and ridges are made first in this method by the use of machinery and the this method is applied on furrows and ridges and then labor starts sowing with the hand. Right after the sowing the field should be irrigate in 6-7 inches deep furrows. And you can sow the seed after irrigating the field. If gaps are left in the field then these gaps should be filled with the next irrigation. This method is more effective than the drill method as it has some benefits more than the other one like weed management, cultural practices, proper inspections etc. as also mentioned in the drill method. By the use of labor seed sowing is also helpful in seed consumption. This also helps in maintaining number of plants in an acre. By this method a farmer can get the proper growth and good production or yield of cotton.
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| Labor sowing |
Filling the Gaps
The germination of cotton seeds starts right after 4 days of sowing in wattar condition. At this stage if you see the gaps in the field, first of all soak the seed separately about 5-6 hour and then take it to the field and make a hole to the places where gaps were found and fill the gaps with the soaked seed in it and cover it with moist soil. If in case of drill sowing you found a gap of line where seeds not available, then a single tube of drill can cover this gap again. There is no wastage of time in filling the gaps in cotton fields. If you do not care of gaps at the wattar condition after first irrigation then in the result of carelessness number of plants will be lesser in an acre and the seed will not germinate properly.
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| Gaps in cotton |
Thinning
Thinning in cotton is very much important process as the number of cotton plants should be on recommended rate for the proper healthy plants and proper management of pest control and weeds control. This process should be complete in 20-25 days of sowing and after this process irrigation should be done. If there is an attack of virus on this crop then thinning should be done after irrigation so that the diseased plants can also be roughed from the field.
Fertilizer Application- Time and Method
Phosphorous and potash fertilizers should be given at the time of sowing as an early application of these fertilizers.
For Early Sowing
Application of nitrogenous fertilizers should be in split doses 5-6 doses. First dose should be applied at the time of sowing and the second one should be applied at the time after 30 days of sowing and after that the remaining doses of nitrogen should be applied in the gaps of each irrigation.
Late Sowing in May
For late sowing application of nitrogenous fertilizers should also be in 4 splits doses. First dose also applied at the time of sowing and 2nd dose application should be after 30 days like early sowing and the 3rd application should e at floral buds stage and the last one should be applied at the formation of bolls.
Phosphorous fertilizers should be applied with the use of farm yard manure or with the application of green manure, these application will help in boosting the organic matter contents in the soil which will be helpful for the fertilizers as it increases the effectiveness of the fertilizers added into the soil. And it should be in mind that the application of fertilizer is more effective if we apply fertilizers in the time of evening. This will be more beneficial in fertilizers application. If there is any attack of virus on crop then the half bag of nitrogen fertilizer like urea should be applied in the initial four stages of irrigation.
Irrigation
According to the different steps of crop like sowing methods of seeds, stages of crops, water requirements and soil fertility, by taking all these steps in mind a farmer should irrigate the field. The upper layer of the field clears the sign of water deficiency as it is visible to the upper layer of the soil, which includes bluish appearance of the leaves. The internodes spaces decreases in the upper branches of the main stem, white flowers at the top and reddening of the color of the upper part of the plant. Rough color of the upper leaves appears. Right at the stage of these signs appearance the field should be irrigated without any loss of time to avoid the loss of production in the cotton crop.
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| Irrigation in cotton |
Irrigation pattern should be changed according to the present weather condition or changing climate condition.
Picking /Harvesting
The time of cotton bolls opening is different at different time, as we all know that the gap between the first and last ball opening is at least two months. Therefore the picking of cotton also be done according to the crop condition. The picking of cotton or the harvesting of cotton should be at least 2-3 pickings for complete harvesting of cotton crop. The harvesting of cotton or first picking of cotton usually starts in the month of September and continues to the month of December or sometimes or somewhere according to the climate condition the picking continues to the month of January. The method of picking could be both mechanical or manual. The lint should be separate of first and last pickings because the fiber of these pickings are of different quality as the fiber of last picking is of low quality as compared to the first or second picking.
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| Cotton of picking |
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