Pima Cotton Regional Variety Trial, Safford Agricultural Center, 2003

Abstract

This study is part of the Regional Pima cotton variety testing program that is carried out in 8 locations from the West Side Field Station in California to El Paso, Texas. Additional varieties are added to the regional standards in this study to supply information needed by cotton growers in southeastern Arizona. Seventeen long staple varieties were tested in a replicated small plot trial on the Safford Agricultural Center in Graham County at an elevation of 2950 feet. Yields were exceptionally high this year with an average yield nearly 600 pound per acre more than was harvested in 2002. The highest yielding variety in this study was Hazera (HA) 195 with a yield of 2027 pounds of lint per acre. This interspecific hybrid , from Israel, has been the highest yielding variety in the study since it was included in 2001. This fuzzy seeded hybrid has fiber qualities as follows: length - 1.41 inches, strength - 34.8 g/tex and uniformity of 87.5. The averages from this study were 1.43, 42.5 and 88.3 for these same variables, respectively. DP HTO was the highest yielding non-hybrid variety in the study with a yield over 1900 pounds of lint per acre. For comparison purposes, it=s length, strength and uniformity were: 1.39, 41.9 and 88.5. Other varieties in the top half of the study were: HA 14-08, OA 360, OA 359, HA 7-66, DP 340 and DP 744, in descending order of their yields. Yield and other agronomic data as well as fiber quality data are contained in this paper along with estimated values of the lint.