Cotton Incorporated to Study Moisture for Better Yields

As cotton continues to lose acreage to various food crops that are needed to sustain a rapidly growing world population, one of the most crucial areas for improvement is in yield. In other words, if we can’t plant cotton in more fields, we’ll just have to get more fiber from the fields we already have.
One of the biggest threats to healthy yields is inclement weather – specifically, insufficient water. Cotton Incorporated is funding a comprehensive and authoritative study on this topic, with two major goals in mind:

1. To pinpoint the best method for consistently monitoring in-field moisture levels, and
2. To identify the most drought-tolerant varieties to choose in the face of water shortages.

The latest phase of that study began this past spring, when plots were established in a number of growing regions across the U.S. Cotton Belt, including Lubbock, Texas; Marianna, Arkansas; Maricopa, Arizona; and Florence, South Carolina.
“We are evaluating a number of cultivars from early- to late-maturing varieties to determine if we can create a stress index that works across a range of conditions,” says Dr. Ed Barnes, director of agricultural and environmental research for Cotton Incorporated.
To obtain continuous, real-time data that accurately measures each plot’s soil moisture profile, the researchers are using a remote irrigation monitoring, management and decision support analysis system from PureSense Environmental. Project investigators will use the plant stress index to distinguish various drought-tolerant varieties, ultimately hoping to identify which varieties will provide the highest yields under stressful water conditions.
The research is critical because even incremental gains can produce significant improvements in yield – or, looked at another way, prevent devastating losses in yield.  “Studies have verified that for every inch of irrigation a producer is short, yield decreases by 50 to 70 pounds per acre,” Barnes says.