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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Mississippi State, Mississippi » Crop Science Research Laboratory » Genetics and Sustainable Agriculture Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #92013
Title: MINIMAL EFFECTS OF FOLIAR APPLICATIONS OF GIBBERELLIC ACID AND CARBOHYDRATES ON THE YIELD OF COTTON (GOSSYPIUM HIRSUTUM L.) LINT

Author
item McCarty, Jack
item Hedin, Paul
item Hayes, Russell - Russ

Submitted to: Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station Technical Bulletin
Publication Type: Experiment Station
Publication Acceptance Date: 3/1/1999
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: Many scientists in both the public and private sectors have explored the use of various plant growth hormones and regulators for increasing the yield of cotton lint. Over a several year period, we have observed some positive effects as have others, but multi-year effects were not statistically signficant in our tests. In this most recent study, we report that we were unable to obtain positive results with two of our more promising compounds, gibberellic acid and carbohydrates.

Technical Abstract: Various plant growth hormones and regulators have been reported to increase the yield of cotton, Gossypium hirsutum L., lint when applied foliarly in field tests. We observed positive effects in individual years, multi-year results were not significant. However, some field tests with gibberellic acid (GA) and carbohydrate isolates had shown occasional promise and were the subject of re-investigations in 1996 and 1997. In expanded tests in 1996, GA did not provide statistically significant increases in yield of lint. In a test in 1997, glucose provided a statistically significant increase in lint yield at one location, but not at another, while fructose and sucrose did not provide increased yields at either location. If, in fact, growth regulators are to have a consistent effect on yield, factors including geography, climate, and procedures must be more precisely defined.