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Title: CHLOROPHYLL INDEX AND LINT YIELD OF COTTON GROWN WITH POULTRY LITTER AND CONVENTIONAL FERTILIZERS

Author
item Tewolde, Haile
item Sistani, Karamat
item Rowe, Dennis
item ADELI, A - MISSISSIPPI STATE UNIV
item JOHNSON, J - MISSISSIPPI STATE UNIV
item MCGOWEN, S - USDA, NRCS

Submitted to: Agronomy Abstracts
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 8/1/2003
Publication Date: 10/1/2003
Citation: Tewolde, H., Rowe, D.E., Sistani, K.R., Adeli, A., Johnson, J.R., McGowen, S.L. 2003. Chlorophyll index and lint yield of cotton grown with poultry litter and conventional fertilizers [abstract]. Agronomy Abstracts. CD-ROM.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Nitrogen from poultry litter mineralizes and becomes plant-available over a longer period of time than N from conventional fertilizers. This pattern may affect the degree of foliage color development and possibly plant growth and lint yield. We conducted an on-farm research to test whether the chlorophyll index of cotton fertilized with poultry litter differs from that of cotton fertilized with the conventional fertilizer urea-ammonium-nitrate (UAN) and evaluate the relationship between chlorophyll index and yield. The research was conducted in 2002 in Mississippi at three commercial cotton farms managed as no-till, reduced-till, or conventional-till. Broiler litter rates of 2.2, 4.5, and 6.7 Mg/ha were tested in combination with 0, 34, or 67 kg/ha UAN-N as a supplement. These treatments were also compared against an untreated control and a farm standard fertilized with 112 and 135 kg/ha UAN-N and other conventional fertilizers as recommended for each farm. At two of the three farms, plants grown with the farm standard had greater chlorophyll index than all other treatments. The treatment that received 2.2 Mg/ha litter plus 67 kg/ha supplemental N as UAN outperformed the farm standard by 62 to 112 kg/ha lint yield at all three farms. Several other treatments with chlorophyll index much less than that of the farm standard performed as good as the farm standard. The results suggest that high chlorophyll index in cotton is not necessarily an indication of better lint yield.