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High-yielding Cultivation Techniques of Hybrid Insect Resistant Cotton
Hybrid insect-resistant cotton typically exhibits strong growth potential, with more fruiting branches and longer leaves, dense foliage, and clear individual advantages. In addition to timely planting, cultivating robust seedlings, applying sufficient base fertilizer, using light top-dressing, maintaining stable nutrient supply, pruning, chemical control, and pest management, it is also essential to focus on several key aspects.
First, adjust row spacing and reduce plant density. For plots with medium to high fertility, a row spacing of 1–1.2 meters and a plant spacing of 50–55 cm is recommended, resulting in a density of 1200–1300 plants per acre. In hilly or lower-fertility areas, a narrower row spacing of 1 meter with a higher density of 1400–1500 plants per acre is suitable. It is important to avoid over-crowding, as this can negatively impact yield performance.
The benefits of wider row spacing and lower plant density include reduced seed usage, less labor in planting, delayed canopy closure, better ventilation and light penetration, and easier field operations.
Second, increase potassium fertilizer application. Cotton is a potassium-demanding crop, and potassium deficiency often leads to stem blight, characterized by yellowing leaf edges that progress to deep yellow or brown, causing the loss of lower bolls and resembling symptoms of verticillium wilt. For fields where potassium deficiency is common, increasing potash fertilizer is crucial. For cotton fields producing more than 300 kg of seed cotton per mu, the total potassium fertilizer applied during the growing season should not be less than 20–25 kg. This includes 5 kg as base fertilizer and 15 kg as bud fertilizer.
Third, reapply flower and boll fertilizer. In the Jianghuai hilly regions, especially in low-yield areas, farmers often apply only base, seedling, and bud fertilizers, neglecting the critical flower and top dressing stages. From mid-July onward, cotton enters a period of heavy flowering and boll formation, which lasts until late August or early September. During this time, adequate nutrients are essential to support the development of a large number of bolls and ensure high yields.
In mid-July, when the cotton plant has 1–2 hard bolls, apply 15–20 kg of urea and 5 kg of potassium oxide.
Fourth, manage drought and flooding. From late July to August, cotton is in a peak period of flowering and boll development, requiring both nutrients and water. If dry weather occurs, and the leaves begin to wilt by 11 AM, this is considered a "break" point. At this stage, irrigation in the morning or evening is necessary to prevent boll drop. In rainy conditions, proper drainage must be maintained to prevent root rot and lodging.
By focusing on these key practices, hybrid insect-resistant cotton can achieve high yields of 300–400 kg of seed cotton per acre. (Feixi County Plant Protection Station)