Author
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Kasperbauer, Michael |
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Submitted to: Agronomy Abstracts
Publication Type: Abstract Only Publication Acceptance Date: 11/10/2002 Publication Date: N/A Citation: N/A Interpretive Summary: Technical Abstract: Cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) fibers are single elongated cells that extend from the seed coat during development, and fiber length is important to textile quality. It was hypothesized that elongating cotton fibers would be as responsive to far-red light (FR) as elongating cells in seedling hypocotyls. Green, red, white, and aluminum reflectors on the soil surface were used as TOOLS to reflect different FR/R ratios or extra photosynthetic light to developing bolls. The green and red panels reflected low amounts of photosynthetic light and higher FR/R photon ratios than were present in incoming sunlight, whereas the aluminum and white reflected much photosynthetic light and the same FR/R ratio as was present in incoming sunlight. Fibers that developed over green and red (higher reflected FR/R) soil covers were significantly longer than those that developed over silver and white (more reflected photosynthetic light). The higher FR/R reflected to developing bolls resulted in thinner boll walls and transmission of more FR to the developing fibers. It is concluded that fiber response to reflected FR should be considered when developing new production systems that involve nontraditional row spacing and plant population densities because growing plants reflect FR (as do some plant residues), and FR reflected to developing bolls can affect elongation of cotton fibers. |
