ABSTRACT

Two experiments were conducted at the University of Arizona Maricopa Agricultural Center in 2002 designed to evaluate cotton yield and fiber quality at various plant populations and to test cotton variety performance in a twin-line per bed cotton production system. The plant population experiment consisted of four target populations which included 60, 80, 100, and 120,000 plants per acre (PPA) and two varieties, Stoneville 4892BR and AG3601. The resulting plant populations were 52800, 69200, 82800 and 96200 for ST4892BR and 54800, 70800, 90500 and 104500 for AG3601. The two lowest plant populations resulted in the highest lint yields for both varieties and were similar but there was a significant linear of decreasing yield with increasing plant population. The highest lint yields in the twin line variety experiment were DP449BR (1743 lb/acre) and DP5415R (1702 lb/acre) which were not statistically different.