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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Stoneville, Mississippi » Crop Production Systems Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #350553
Title: A lack of response of irrigated soybean (Glycine max L. Merr.) in rotation with cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) in the Mississippi Delta, USA

Author
item Bruns, Herbert
item Reddy, Krishna
item Pettigrew, William

Submitted to: Archives of Agriculture and Environmental Science
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 8/13/2018
Publication Date: 9/12/2018
Citation: Bruns, H.A., Reddy, K.N., Pettigrew, W.T. 2018. A lack of response of irrigated soybean (Glycine max L. Merr.) in rotation with cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) in the Mississippi Delta, USA. Archives of Agriculture and Environmental Science. 3(3):261-263.

Interpretive Summary: Information on soybean and cotton rotations have a limited amount of available information. Scientists at the USDA-ARS Crop Production Systems Research Unit at Stoneville, MS examined four irrigated cotton:soybean rotation schemes to continuous soybean from 2012 to 2015 and found no differences in seed yields among the rotations. Yearly average yields across all rotations did differ and coincided with differences in rainfall/irrigation totals. Weights of 100-seed samples across rotations found 2015 to be lower (13.9 g) than the previous years (16.2, 15.6, and 16.2g; 2012, 2013 and 2014, respectively). Rotations of cotton with soybean appear to have neither a beneficial or negative effect on soybean yield

Technical Abstract: The effects of cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.):soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] rotations on the respective crops are limited. This manuscript discusses the effects on soybean. An irrigated soybean:cotton rotation experiment was conducted from 2012 through 2015 near Elizabeth, MS. Rotation sequences were; continuous soybean, cotton followed by soybean, soybean followed by cotton, Soybean followed by two yr of cotton, and cotton followed by two yr of soybean. A weed control treatment of (pendimethalin pre-emergence vs. glyphosate post-emergence) as included on the soybean plots. Soybean yields across rotations within a yr were not significantly different. Means yields differed among years (54.4, 45.0, 52.1 and 38.7 bu/A for 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015 respectively) and appear related to difference in rainfall/irrigation amounts. Weights of 100 seed samples averaged 13.9 g in 2015 which differed from the previous yrs. (16.2, 15.6, and 16.2g; 2012, 2013 and 2014, respectively). Rotations of cotton with soybean appear to have neither a beneficial or negative effect on soybean yield.