Studies On Irrigation Management For A Recently Developed Cotton Variety, Sindh-1

Abstract

Cotton is considered as backbone of Pakistan’s textile industry; because this industry predominantly depends upon cotton crop for raw material to manufacture fibre and clothes. Cotton seed is the principal source of edible oil production that is the major contributor to the domestically produced total edible oil. Therefore, the current field study has been framed to categorize the irrigation frequencies with reference to growth and yield enhancement in newly developed cotton variety ‘Sindh-1’ in mitigating the major challenge of irrigation water especially during summer season. Four irrigation regimes (7 irrigations: 30, 45, 60, 75, 90, 105 and 120 DAS; 6 irrigations: 30, 50, 70, 90, 110 and 130 DAS [the existing recommendation]; 5 irrigations: 30, 55, 80, 105, 130 DAS; and 4 irrigations: 30, 60, 90 and 120 DAS) were tested. The results showed that cotton performed economically better when supplied with five irrigations as compared to six and seven irrigations in terms of weight boll^-1 (3.38, 3.32, 3.06 g), seed cotton weight plant^-1 (137, 136.14, 125.32 g), seed weight plant^-1 (87.68, 85.21, 80.20 g), lint weight plant^-1 (49.93, 47.32, 45.12 g), seed cotton yield ha^-1 (3287.4, 3216.9, 3007.8 kg), seed yield ha^-1 (2128.5, 2068.2, 1921.6 kg) and, lint yield ha^-1 (1158.9, 1148.7, 1086.2 kg). The study concluded that cotton crop could economically be managed under reduced irrigation (5 irrigations) against existing recommended irrigation times (6 irrigations) to cope with water shortage in summer season for Kharif crops particularly for cotton variety Sindh-1.