Effect of Solarization on Potassium Disease Complex of Cotton

B.L. Weir, J. DeVay, J. Stepleton, J. Wakeman, and D. Garber


 
ABSTRACT

Clear plastic, one mil in thickness, was placed on a fallowed field for the purpose of solarizing the soil. A potassium-disease complex syndrome affecting about 300,000 acres of cotton in California's San Joaquin Valley responded to fumigation and solarization as well as potassium fertilization. The three areas covered with plastic were 33 feet x 150 feet, with similar dimensions between them for non-solarized comparisons. Both treated and control areas were irrigated and left undisturbed for about one month.

Solarization increased Acala SJ-2 lint yields from 606 to 1016 pounds per acre and increased ammonium acetate extractable potassium in the soil an average of 9.4%. Also, root densities and numbers of root intersections were increased due to solarization.



Reprinted from 1987 Proceedings: Beltwide Cotton Production Research Conferences pp. 51 - 52
©National Cotton Council, Memphis TN

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Document last modified Sunday, Dec 6 1998