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Project Details:
Methodology
Objective
Justification
Cotton continues to be one of the major row crops in Mississippi Delta Region of Arkansas. Nitrogen and K fertilization of cotton in Arkansas is based on preplant soil test NO3-N and K levels and petiole NO3-N and K concentrations between first bloom and boll opening. This diagnostic approach is based on field research in late 70's and early 80's and enabled many Arkansas and other mid-south growers to produce high cotton yields for many years. However, cotton production practices have dramatically changed during the past two decades. An important feature of these changes has been the introduction of new fast fruiting cultivars with different nutritional requirements than the obsolete cultivars used to develop the bulk of our current soil test correlation, calibration, and fertilizer recommendations in 1970's and early 1980's.
Efforts are underway to update N and K fertilizer recommendations in Arkansas. An important component of these efforts is a series of yield response studies to evaluate effect of N or K fertilizer on soil nutrients, cotton yield, and petiole nutrients of modern short season cultivars. To ensure high cotton yield and quality it is necessary to ensure that all nutrients are available at optimum levels and also optimum ratios. Factorial field experiments, where the simultaneous effect of N and K rates on yield and nutrient status of cotton is evaluated can provide valuable information to improve fertility recommendations for cotton production in Mississippi Delta Region of Arkansas. We established a factorial N by K experiment at the University of Arkansas Cotton Branch Experiment Station in 2004 using funds provided by the Arkansas Soil Testing Review Board. However, lack of resources limited our ability to collect any data beyond yield measurements. Funding from PPI will allow us to collect additional soil, petiole nutrients, and seed cotton yield data from this factorial experiment in 2005.
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