Plant Density Influences Reproductive Growth, Lint Yield and Boll Spatial Distribution of Cotton

• DOI: 10.3390/agronomy10010014
• Publication Date: 2019-12-20T14:50:33Z
• Authors: Nangial Khan; Yingchun Han; Fangfang Xing; Lu Feng; Zhanbiao Wang; Guoping Wang; Beifang Yang; Zhengyi Fan; Yaping Lei; Shiwu Xiong; Xiaofei Li; Yabing Li
• Keywords: Biomass (ecology); Biomass; Plant Science; Cotton Genomics; Agricultural and Biological Sciences; Sociology; Lint; Genomic Studies of Cotton Fiber Development and Improvement; Malvaceae; 2. Zero hunger; Factors Affecting Maize Yield and Lodging Resistance; Plant density; Life Sciences; cotton phenology; 04 agricultural and veterinary sciences; Plant population; Field experiment; FOS: Sociology; Physical Sciences; Metallurgy; Environmental Impacts of Solar Energy Technologies; Environmental Engineering; Field experiment; Population; Randomized block design; Fiber crop; Yield (engineering); Biology; Horticulture; Spatial distribution; biomass accumulation; Plant Density; Randomized block design; Biology; Sowing; Demography; Lint; plant density; FOS: Environmental engineering; Plant density; 15. Life on land; yield; Agronomy; Materials science; Agronomy; Environmental Science; Population density; 0401 agriculture, forestry, and fisheries; Agronomy and Crop Science

The number of cotton plants grown per unit of ground area has gained attention due to the high prices of inputs and lower production. Cotton yield per unit of area in Henan province has been stagnant in the last few years. The objectives of this study were to investigate cotton growth, yield, boll spatial distribution and biomass accumulation using different plant densities at cultivation and to find out the optimal plant density. A 2-year field experiment was conducted in a randomized complete block design under six plant densities (D1, 15,000; D2, 33,000; D3, 51,000; D4, 69,000; D5, 87,000 and D6, 105,000 ha−1). Cotton grown at lower plant density produced taller plants and high number of leaves per plant while greater number of branches, fruiting nodes and high number of bolls per unit of ground area were produced under high plant density. Boll retention rate decreased as plant population increased and at nodes 1–8 the rate decreased slowly and then increased dramatically. The highest seed cotton yield (4546 kg ha−1) and lint yield (1682 kg ha−1) was produced by D5. The seed cotton and lint yield produced by D5 were 51–55%, 40–37%, 22–26%, 11–15%, 12–15%, 28–30%, 21–24%, 15–20%, 7–13% and 13–17% higher than D1, D2, D3, D4 and D6 during both years of experimentation, respectively. The increase in seed yield was due to higher biomass accumulation in reproductive organs under D5 plant density. The highest average (110.4 VA kg ha−1 d−1) and maximum (126 VM kg ha−1 d−1) rate of reproductive organs biomass was also accumulated by D5 as compared to other plant densities. The results suggest that D5 is the optimal plant density for high reproductive biomass accumulation and high yield for the area of Henan province.